Yet another NHL player opts out of Pride celebrations

Buffalo Sabres defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin will reportedly not join his team in wearing a special Pride Night celebration jersey for warmups this evening prior to the Sabres' game against the Montreal Canadiens.

Lyubushkin is reportedly citing new legislation in his native Russia as his reasoning for opting out. Russian President' Vladimir Putin has introduced new laws which make it illegal to promote or "praise" anything other than heterosexuality or publicly express "non-traditional sexual preferences that are not normal." Seriously... in 2023...

In any case, Lyubushkin is not the first Russian player to opt out of Pride celebrations for political reasons and likely won't be the last.

The Sabres, I will say, have walked this tricky PR tight-rope well and have released a statement that supports both their player and the LGBTQ+ community.

“We continue to advocate for under-represented groups in hockey and hope that our Pride Night, like many across the league, sparks meaningful conversations and encourages support for the LGBTQIA+ community,” the team said in a statement.

“Our team feels strongly that one way to garner support is through wearing Pride jerseys and using Pride tape in warmups,” the team said. Without mentioning Lyubushkin specifically, the Sabres added: “We are are aware of general threats to certain players, and understand their decision to forego risk.”

Sabres captain Kyle Okposo also expressed his support for Lyubushkin: "I think that passing judgement on him without trying to understand the full scope of his decision would be unwise. We support him."

Fair enough, but call me crazy I don't think Putin would be happy if he saw Lyubushkin wearing a pro-American Military jersey either... but Lyubushin had no problem wearing that last week. I'm not saying that he's a hypocrite but... well screw it... that's actually exactly what I'm saying. Ditto for San Jose Sharks goaltender James Reimer who cited his Mennonite faith as his reason for opting out of Pride Night. Again, he had no problem wearing Military Appreciation Night jerseys though, despite the fact that his religion promotes pacifism and peace more than anything else, but I digress.

The fact of the matter is that it's a players' choice whether or not they want to support something and I fully support Lyubushhkin or anyone else who decides to opt out of these celebrations. Frankly, I kind of hope more people actually do opt out of these kinds of celebrations so that we can see identity politics and world politics removed from the sport entirely. Do away with Pride Night, do away with Military Appreciation Night, do away with it all and start with the National Anthem.