Wild cancel plan to wear Pride Night warm-up jerseys; no reason given

The Wild pulled back from plans to wear Pride Night jerseys in warmups before Tuesday night's 1-0 shootout loss to Calgary at Xcel Energy Center.

The team had a special Pride Night ticket package and provided information tables to support the LGBTQ community; it originally planned for players to wear rainbow jerseys pregame that later could be auctioned. The Wild skated instead with game jerseys in warmups.

Several players used rainbow tape on their sticks pregame, and defenseman Jon Merrill hosted a postgame meet-and-greet. Suites were also donated to Twin Cities Pride, Twin Cities Queer Hockey Association and Team Trans.

Jack Jablonski issued the "Let's Play Hockey" pregame greeting wearing one of the Wild Pride Night jerseys.

The team didn't provide a reason for not wearing the warmups, but issued this statement: "The Minnesota Wild organization is proud to continue our support of the LGBTQ community by hosting our second annual Pride Night last night, which we celebrated in many ways. It is important to host nights like this to show all players, fans, and the LGBTQ community that hockey is for everyone. We will continue to utilize our platform to strengthen our community and create a greater State of Hockey."

On Jan. 24, Russian player Ivan Provorov didn't skate in warmups for the Flyers while the rest of his teammates wore Pride jerseys; Provorov cited religious objections. The Russian government issued a law in December outlawing support for same-sex relationships.

On Jan. 27, the New York Rangers scrapped plans for wearing Pride Night jerseys in pregame warmups. The Tampa Bay Lightning had Pride Night on Tuesday in a game where they didn't wear special warmup jerseys, but the team had not said it would beforehand. The New York Islanders did not wear rainbow jerseys on the team's Pride Night on Feb. 9, citing an organizational policy against wearing specialized warmups.

Wild forward Ryan Hartman was fined $4,594.59, the maximum allowable under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, by the NHL for slashing Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson on Tuesday.

The money goes to the Players' Emergency Assistance Fund.

Coach Dean Evason said defenseman Jonas Brodin (lower body injury) and forward Brandon Duhaime (upper body) have not resumed skating. Recently acquired Gustav Nyquist (shoulder) has not skated but is with the team on its four-game road trip to become acclimated with his teammates.