Will NHL players make a social justice stance? The Florida Panthers’ NHLPA rep weighs in
Mike Matheson didn’t really get much of a break while the NHL was on hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While most of the players across the league waited out a months-long shutdown by working out and spending time with family, Matheson also had to work in time for phone calls — lots and lots of phone calls.
The defenseman is the Florida Panthers’ player representative for the NHL Players’ Association, which means he was the liaison between the team and the Players’ Association throughout the NHLPA’s negotiations with the league regarding plans to resume the season amid the coronavirus pandemic. Even after the two sides agreed on a plan in the spring, he wasn’t done tackling tough decisions.
“That’s kind of your role is to give up your time to be on those calls,” Matheson said, “and do your best to relay the information back and forth between the team and the PA.”
A day before the NHL announced its return-to-play plan in May, a police officer killed George Floyd during an arrest in Minnesota, triggering months of protests around the world, which are still ongoing. Sports leagues all across the world have tried to find ways to respond.
In the Premier League, players have worn “Black Lives Matter” on the backs of their jerseys since play resume. In the NBA, “Black Lives Matter” is written on the courts teams are playing on for its restart in Lake Buena Vista. On Friday, the Tampa Bay Rays Twitter account wrote Opening Day is “a great day to arrest the killers of Breonna Taylor,” referring to another police killing of an unarmed Black person.
The NHL will allow players to wear custom helmet and uniform decals to celebrate “community, charities, businesses, fans, front-line heroes, youth programs and social justice advocates.” Decals will the hashtags “#ISkateFor” or “#WeSkateFor,” paired with a word or message like “Equality.” Matheson said the NHLPA and Panthers continue have both had discussions about how they could use their platforms for social good once games begin.
“Yeah, a little bit,” Matheson said. “I think we’re still in discussions about that. It’s such a sensitive thing right now and we want to make sure that the voice we use is the right one, and that it’s broadcast the right way, so that it’s received the right way, too.
“That’s definitely been part of the discussions. It’s a very important issue that’s going on in the world and it’s important to use your voice.”
If Florida opts to do something once it gets on the ice in Toronto, it will be player driven. Coach Joel Quenneville said he has not talked about any social justice initiatives with his team.
“We’ve always been privileged to get to play our sport and play it at our level,” Quenneville said. “We’ve got a ton of respect for what’s gone on in society over this stretch in a number of ways and a number of areas, and we haven’t talked about that at all with our players as far as how they view different things in the world. We give them the freedom to make all their decisions and I think the one thing you’ve got to like about hockey players is the respect they have for everyone out there.”
So far, Matheson has been pleased with the way the NHL and NHLPA have handled negotiations around a return to play. No Panthers player has publicly complained about the “bubble” teams will be living in for potentially two months while the season concludes and the COVID safety measures have been effective so far, with only two players testing positive for the virus in the first week of postseason training camp.
It bodes well as Florida gets ready to travel to Canada on Sunday.
“There’s been so many moving parts and our main focus has been the safety of everybody involved,” Matheson said. “And then getting back to hockey was obviously very important, but only as long as it was safe for everybody involved, so I think the way that we’ve been able to come up with a plan to get back playing hockey has been pretty admirable that the PA was able to come together with the league and have so many people working such long hours to get something done, and ultimately we’re all so excited to be back playing and doing what we love to do.”
