BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP - Modified) — Buffalo Sabres defenseman Ilya Lyubushkin is citing an anti-gay Kremlin law and fears of retribution at home in Russia for electing not to participate in the Sabres’ pregame warmup on the team's Pride night on Monday.
The team announced Lyubushkin’s decision Monday morning. Lyubushkin is from Moscow, where he has family and visits regularly in the offseason. He is expected to play Monday despite not taking part in warmups.
The Sabres issued the following statement on social media:
"The Buffalo Sabres are proud to continue to support the LGBTQIA+ community as allies by hosting our third annual Pride Night game. It is of the utmost importance to us to continue to use our platform to strengthen our organizational goal of making hockey for everyone.
Consistent with previous years, our team feels strongly that one way to garner support is through wearing Pride jerseys and using Pride tape in warmups. That said, we are aware of general threats to certain players and understand their decision to forego risk.
We continue to advocate for under-represented groups in hockey and hope that our Pride Night, like many across the league, sparks meaningful conversation and encourages support for the LGBTQIA+ community within the sport of hockey and our city."
Monday will be the third Pride Night that the Sabres have hosted. The team will wear special Pride-themed jerseys and use custom pucks commemorating the night in pregame warmups. They will also have the option to use Pride Tape during warmups. The jerseys and sticks will then be auctioned off to benefit local Pride organizations.
Sabres captain Kyle Okposo spoke to the media after practice Monday and addressed Lyubushkin's decision:
"Myself, as an American, and as a North American, I don't think I'm able to understand the psychological decisions that he's going through and some of the psychological burdens that he goes through being from a different part of the world. I don't think it's fair to judge him in an apples-to-apples sense, we support (Lyubuskin) in this room and we want to make sure that he's comfortable and we respect his decisions. I think that passing judgment on him without trying to understand the full scope of his decision would be unwise."
Okposo was then asked how important he felt it was to move forward and have Pride Night:
"It's extremely important, we want to make sure that everybody is accepted. John, I spoke with you about some of the challenges that I've seen in my life and I've been through. You want to make sure that everybody is able to come to the rink and feel like they belong and feel like they're accepted. I think that is something that as a society as a whole were still grappling with, and as a hockey community were still grappling with as well, but we're getting better. We are going to continue to, like I said, have these conversations and continue to get better but it's extremely important to have this night tonight."
It has not just been Russian players opting out of warmups that have put Pride nights around the NHL in the spotlight in recent months.
Ivan Provorov of the Philadelphia Flyers, James Reimer of the San Jose Sharks and Eric and Marc Staal of the Florida Panthers all refused to take part in warmups with Pride-themed jerseys, citing religious beliefs, while the New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild and Chicago Blackhawks opted not to have players wear them at all. Reimer and the Staal brothers are Canadian.
The Blackhawks, like Lyubushkin, cited a law passed last year in Russia that expanded the restrictions on supporting LGBTQ+ rights in the country as their reasoning.
The Florida Panthers — whose star goaltender, Sergei Bobrovsky, is Russian — went forward with plans to wear Pride-themed jerseys on Thursday night before their home game against Toronto. Bobrovsky took part.
