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TSN Senior Correspondent

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Nearly three years after Tampa Bay Lightning forward J.T. Brown jolted the hockey world by raising his fist to protest police brutality and racial inequality before a game, Colorado Avalanche centre Nazem Kadri said the NHL should make a public statement supporting players who want to conduct political protests during the national anthems.

“The league should support its players and that’s the bottom line, being in countries that pride themselves on freedom of speech,” Kadri said in an interview with TSN on Monday. “Silent hate has been spread across the world for too many years now and it's important for us players who believe the same things to stick together. Whatever players want to do to voice their opinions, those are the same opinions that help grow the leagues, and make the NHL, the NBA, the NFL, the leagues they are today. Without the players, the leagues would be nothing.”

In the days since George Floyd, a Black man, died in police custody on May 25 in Minneapolis, a flurry of athletes, sports teams and leagues have issued statements supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and condemning police brutality.

Kadri, whose family background is Lebanese, said the public outpouring of support and pressure presents an opportunity to hold leagues to account.

“In years past, leagues were able to prevent players from speaking up about controversial issues,” he said. “Now that everybody is coming together and one voice turns into 10, turns into 100 turns into 1,000, I think we as people and players can use that as leverage.”

An NHL spokesman did not respond to repeated emails seeking more information about the league’s current stance on player protests.

Neither the NBA nor the NFL penalize player protests. However, former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick has gone unsigned for the past three seasons - since he sat during the national anthem and later took a knee to protest police brutality against people of colour. Kaepernick is now 32 and has not played in the NFL since 2016. He sued the NFL for collusion, settling his case in 2019. Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Kim Davis, the NHL’s executive vice-president for social impact, growth initiatives and legislative affairs, told ESPN in a June 5 interview that the league would create four new committees to explore diversity issues. The NHL also will create a task force that will focus on issues of development for minority coaches and officials, she said.

After a group of seven current and former NHL players of colour announced on Monday that they are starting the Hockey Diversity Alliance, a coalition whose goal is to fight systemic racism in hockey, Davis said the NHL looked forward to working with the alliance.

“As protests in both the United States and Canada in recent days have focused attention upon racial justice for the Black community, the NHL stands with all those who are working to achieve a racially just society, and against all those who perpetuate and uphold racism, hatred, bigotry and violence,” the NHL wrote in a statement published on social media on May 31.

Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the Toronto Maple Leafs parent company, will support players who choose to protest before games, spokesman Dave Haggith said. 

“MLSE has been, and will continue to be, supportive of all members of the organization’s right to express themselves,” Haggith wrote in an emailed statement.

Kadri said he has been a victim of racism in hockey, and mentioned his early days in the Ontario Hockey League with the Kitchener Rangers, when he was targeted by fans and players during some away games.

“My first year in junior, I was stereotyped and basically didn’t feel accepted by certain players or fans of certain teams,” he said. “It’s unfortunate, but I don’t want to go too specific into it.”

Kadri didn’t say whether he would participate in a pre-game political protest but said he would support any teammate who decided to do so.

Brown, a native of Minnesota who now plays in the Wild organization, said in a roundtable discussion with TSN that while the Tampa organization supported him, he still faced significant backlash when he decided to raise his fist while standing on the bench before an Oct. 7, 2017, game.

“A lot of people said, ‘This is the wrong time, the wrong place to do it.’ Well, when is the right time, the right place?” Brown said.

Wild defenceman Matt Dumba, who is a close friend of Brown, said during the same group discussion that the lives of Brown and his children were threatened at the time. 

"Was it right for J.T. and his family to get death threats? To threaten their lives or his kids' lives? That's such bulls--- when people come to games to watch us, and your identity is displayed in front of thousands of people. If J.T. wants to make that stand, that's who he is,” Dumba said.  “That’s why you come to the game, to see a guy’s personality.”

In the days after Brown’s political protest, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman on several occasions was asked whether he supported players conducting such protests.

During an Oct. 12, 2017, interview with Los Angeles Kings’ broadcaster Jim Fox, Bettman indicated that most players in the NHL were "basically doing what they believe is correct" and keeping demonstrations during the national anthem away from the rink.

“Our players tend to focus on the games, which is what I think fans want,” Bettman said. "There's lots of places where you can exercise your commitment on either social or political causes, but I don't think people come to games for that. I think the anthem is important, I think showing respect for the White House, the Office of the President is important, politics aside, and overwhelmingly, we haven't had to issue an edict.”

A few weeks later, Bettman addressed the issue during a sports business conference on Oct. 25. 

“I think people come to sporting events to come together, to be unified as a community, to root, and to be distracted,” Bettman said at the time. “I don’t think fans like to come for political rallies. There are other times to do that. We didn’t issue an edict or a rule, and virtually almost without exception, our players have been focused on being a team, serving their communities, and trying to win their games.”