NHL News: NHL Games Go On … “We are always last to the party on these topics”
Other leagues protested and canceled their games last night, the NHL games went on. Player and media reactions from the NHL playing games.
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Evander Kane: “Actually it’s incredibly insulting as a black man in hockey the lack of action and acknowledgement from the @nhl, just straight up insulting.”

theScore: Evander Kane on Sportsnet.

“I’ll be honest, I haven’t really heard much in regards to Jacob Blake’s attempted murder. It’s unfortunate, we’re obviously talking about another Black man unarmed being shot in the back in front of his children,” Kane said, per Sportsnet. “But again, we had these conversations earlier with the George Floyd killing of continuing the conversation, furthering the conversation, everybody wanting to be better and making sure that we’re more vocal and we do better moving forward. Here’s another example, unfortunately, but it’s also another example of the lack of with regards to our league and our players and our media that cover our game.

“It’s not just my responsibility as a minority player in the NHL to be talking about these issues. It’s not just Wayne Simmonds or Akim Aliu or Joel Ward or Matt Dumba’s stance or issues in this society, it’s everybody’s. Until everybody decides to take it upon themselves and maybe step away from some of their privileges to educate themselves and really fight with us, we’re going to be in the same situation we are today,” he continued.

Kane said there has been support from players in the past few months, but he would like to see some real action.

“It’s great to write statements, it’s great to send tweets, it’s great to post stories and pictures on Instagram,” Kane said, “but at the end of the day it’s going to be about real action and meaningful change, and unfortunately that still isn’t occurring, and we need to be better.”

Dane Mizutani of the Pioneer Press: Minnesota Wild Matt Dumba on Sportsnet 650 on the NHL not doing more.

“We are always last to the party on these topics,” Dumba said. “It’s kind of sad and disheartening for me and for members of the (Hockey Diversity Alliance), and I’m sure for other guys across the league. If no one stands up and does anything,  it’s the same thing. It’s just that silence. You’re just outside looking in on actually being leaders and evoking real change when there’s such an opportunity to do so.”

Dumba hopes that white players start standing up.

“I hope guys find it in them to stand up,” Dumba said. “You can’t keep coming to the minority players every time there’s a situation like this. The white players in our league need to have answers for what they’re seeing in society right now and where they stand in making a change.”

Ben Pope: Boston Bruins Zdeno Chara on going ahead with their game last night: “It was so close to our game that we were just getting ready. We support fighting against racism and injustice. There’s different ways to express that fight. NBA players expressed their opinions about it by boycotting the games today. We support it.”

Chris Johnston: Colorado Avalanche Nazem Kadri: “Eventually words get stale and it’s about action and making a difference.”

Adrian Dater: Kadri said that there was some thought from him and the Avs about sitting out last night’s game.

Adrian Dater: Avs coach Jared Bednar said that he didn’t have any players come up to him about not playing. If anyone had approached him, he said that he would have addressed it as a team

Greg Wyshynski: Dallas Stars Tyler Seguin said they didn’t have a “big serious conversation” about not playing last night’s game. He added that he didn’t know what was going on with the NBA until they arrived at the arena.

Seguin said that he supports the movement and that more needs to be done in hockey, but “there’s different ways to show your actions and your support.”

Amalie Benjamin of NHL.com: Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk on their game going on last night.

“I think, personally, with our team, we played last night, we played today, the other leagues hadn’t taken their stances until we got here tonight. I think for us it was something we found out when we got to the rink and something we have to address going forward.”