Star Defenseman Puts Gary Bettman On Blast For Poor Standards

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Tom Banks
October 25, 2023 (5:06 PM)

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The NHL has been full of controversy and questionable decisions as of late, and after the reversal of their latest decision, some players have finally decided to speak out.

Dumba speaks out

During a recent interview with the media, Coyotes star defenseman Matt Dumba spoke out about the recent pride tape saga, questioning the NHL's lack of leadership and direction.

"Why is that even a thing?" he told The Athletic's Eric Stephens. "Why did they have to do that in the first place? You'll never get the answers from them. You'll never get the answers for that. That's just something I've come to understand. They don't have answers for a lot of things that they do. They follow and try to save face."

Unsurprisingly, Dumba has questions as to why the pride tape was banned in the first place, revealing his stance that the NHL doesn't seem to have any direction, and simply follow along and save face for their fans.

The correct decision

Regardless of how they got there, reversing the ban on pride tape was clearly the best move for the NHL, inspired by Dumba's teammate Travis Dermott, who is quite happy the NHL made this latest move.

"It's just given the players their voice back," he said, per Stephens. "If everyone wants to wear it, if one guy wants to wear it - no one is going to be forced to wear it - but now just having that voice, I think, really speaks volumes into what the league thinks of us, what the league thinks of the community, and really backs up their line that hockey is for everyone."

Ultimately, it's hard to disagree with Dumba, as the NHL's decisions have been full of inconsistencies lately, and unless they can figure it out under strong leadership, the fans may be alienated further by the questionable moves being made.

As Read on House of Hockey - Star Defenseman Rips Gary Bettman Apart Publicly