Gary Bettman shared with Elliotte Friedman on his podcast that the NHL will be cancelling all specialty jerseys from warmups next season. That means no Hockey Fights Cancer jerseys for auction. No Indigenous Night jerseys. No Pride jerseys. Well, it was always about caving into the homophobes that are woven into the fabric of the league. [Correction: Bettman's clarifying language seemed to indicate that teams are free to create jerseys and sell them. The only thing not happening is wearing them in warmup.]

And with that, the NHL's faint grip with the communities it exists in, standing and impact in the countries it plays in, lessens. Bigotry, ignorance, and hate is harming initiatives to fight cancer because you're scared of a fucking rainbow.

Morgan Rielly of the Leafs at a charity event says the ban won't stop them from being clear and visible with their support for many issues, namely Pride.

God, if Pierre LeBrun writes a tweet about you without using copy/paste from a source, you know you've screwed up.

To recap a lot of news around the Calgary Flames, here's how their contract extension negotiations are going with some players:

  • Flames are making a big push to sign Elias Lindholm, but he is reportedly not interested in staying.
  • Tyler Toffoli plans not to re-sign.
  • Mikael Backlund also not leaning towards re-signing
  • Noah Hanifin has clearly indicated he does not plan to re-sign.

So, yeah. That's 82 goals from last season from four players who average 19 minutes per game for the Flames. It's a huge chunk of their team clearly saying they don't believe the team will be competitive and want to bail before they're stuck there for the rest of their careers. Talk about an oof.

At least they have a coaching staff?

Except Mitch Love, who is joining Spencer Carbery in Washington.

The Leafs don't have a second round pick in any of the next three years and would have to wait until July 1st to have permission to trade the one in 2026. They do have the 28th pick and some friendly prospects.

The Bobfather has his final NHL Draft rankings for 2023 and Brian has many thoughts on it that will be shared with you later this morning, so stay tuned!

Intrigue and excitement in the Year of Connor Bedard at the NHL Draft | TSN
The 2023 NHL Draft is about so much more than just the phenom who will go first overall to the Chicago Blackhawks in Nashville, Bob McKenzie writes. Scouts are very enthused about the depth of this year’s class.
Bob McKenzieTSN
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Sports washing steps up a notch as the Qatari sovereign fund has bought a minority stake in the Capitals, Wizards, and Mystics of the NHL, NBA, and WNBA. Oil money is rampant in DC, so it is with no surprise that this is happening there.

The 2025 IIHF men's world juniors will be in Ottawa.

I don't know why "females" has become a thing in sports (okay, I know why), and yet no one ever uses the word "males" for men? Okay you caught me, I know why.

From The Branches