When the NHL returned to play in early August of 2020, the league held a solemn opening ceremony to acknowledge the deep racial divisions in our society. In the ceremony, the Minnesota Wild’s Matt Dumba took a knee during the American national anthem while other NHL players stood in a circle to show unity.
It was a carefully choreographed spectacle meant to show that the NHL and its players were capable of rising to a moment that demanded deep engagement with issues of race and social justice. Dumba’s courageous act (for which he’s still receiving blowback) seemed to portend that NHL players might now begin to break out of their self imposed hockey bubble and engage with broader issues of social and political import.
Through the remainder of the 2020 season, players gave thoughtful quotes, they posted statements on Instagram and, after the shooting of Jacob Blake, decided to strike with other athletes across the NBA, MLS and WNBA. It seemed, for a minute, that things might change with how hockey players have traditionally engaged with world events.
And yet, as days pass after pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed into the U.S. Capitol, the NHL world has been largely silent and passive, retreating once again behind its apolitical shield.
To be clear, what happened on Wednesday was not just an assault on democracy, but the actions of white nationalists spurned on by the President himself. Rioters stormed the Capitol, they destroyed property, they built a gallows out front. Five people died in the attempted insurrection, one of them a Capitol police officer.
At its core, the storming of the Capitol represented a violent white supremacist insurrection, the actions of people worked into a frenzy against a multiracial democracy. When people, including NHL players, took to the streets to protest against police shootings and systemic racism, this is exactly the sick and debased ideology they were standing up against.
On Wednesday though, when the opportunity presented itself to specifically condemn these actions—that were so clearly against what players say they stand for—why were so many in the hockey community so utterly silent?
Aside from Dumba, the Devils Kyle Palmieri, Stephen Johns and Anaheim coach Dallas Eakins, there was no public acknowledgement that the outside world had intruded at all on an increasingly impervious hockey bubble.
The NHL and many of their players have long insisted they are “apolitical,” using the term to avoid engaging with issues that their counterparts in other sports have taken a lead on. Even as Dumba took a knee during the anthem, the NHL went out of their way to insist that it wasn’t political, but instead tried to hide behind well meaning but empty concepts like “unity.”
With their “Hockey is for Everyone” campaign, the NHL has been trying to rope in progressive fans with progressive ideals. They say they are are committed to fighting racism, partnered with voter registration drives before the 2020 election and have promoted LGBT+ inclusion. Yet, they refuse to qualify these engagements as political, even though they clearly are. Like many companies, the NHL wants the corporate benefits of appearing to do social good without having to do the political work.
Condemning a violent insurrection in the second biggest market for their sport seems like a good idea, but it would have also meant that the league and players would have had acknowledge their own Trump ties. Over the last four years, many players made trips with their Stanley Cup champion teams to the White House, and had no qualms about posing with the President.
Their silence then, speaks volumes. The league and players can not say they are for racial equality and social justice and then keep their mouths shut when white supremacists, urged on by the President, take over the Capitol building.
That the league nor many NHL players were publicly able to see the link between what occurred on Wednesday and what they said they stood for over the summer simply shows how hollow those promises to “do the work” actually were. Engagement with these issues needs to be a constant and ongoing process, not something that takes a back seat to the season starting or whatever else is more pressing. Again, insulated by their privilege, NHL players were able to simply move away from acknowledging the utter chaos of the past few days, despite being valued members of the U.S. communities they live and play in.
And then again, maybe the silence is the point. When players can’t come out and condemn such clear ignominious actions, it has to be asked, who is that silence protecting? What is that silence really supporting?