In the four months between the NHL pausing its season due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the resumption of the campaign this week, the world in no uncertain terms changed. The pandemic forced a new reality upon us, and the economic strife combined with increased awareness globally about how the police target and kill Black people with impunity led to a widespread call for change.
It’s perhaps naive to expect the NHL to know better by now, despite establishing its Declaration of Principles and running an inclusion campaign under the glimmering, vapid banner “Hockey Is For Everyone” when it’s anything but.