ST. LOUIS — The Blues will not wear Pride-themed warmup jerseys as part of Tuesday’s Pride Night, the team announced Monday afternoon.
In an announcement outlining their plans for Pride Night, the Blues did not mention Pride jerseys, but did say that players would be able to use rainbow tape on their sticks during warmup ahead of Tuesday’s game vs. the Flyers. They would also use Pride-themed pucks during warmup.
According to a team source, the decision was made to focus on positive actions being taken to provide support and affirmation to the LGBTQIA+ community.
The Blues are the latest team to not wear Pride jerseys in warmup, joining the Wild, Rangers and Blackhawks. Individual players have also chosen not to wear the jerseys, including Philadelphia’s Ivan Provorov, San Jose’s James Reimer, Florida’s Marc and Eric Staal, Vancouver’s Andrei Kuzmenko and Buffalo’s Ilya Lyubushkin.
Provorov, Reimer and the Staals cited religious beliefs for not wearing the jersey. Lyubushkin and the Blackhawks cited safety concerns following a Russian law that was passed in December banning LGBTQ “propaganda.” Canucks coach Rick Tocchet called Kuzmenko’s choice a “family decision.”
Other Russian players like Artemi Panarin, Sergei Bobrovsky and Evgeni Malkin have worn Pride jerseys this season for their respective teams. The Blues have three Russians on their active roster: Alexey Toropchenko, Pavel Buchnevich and newly recalled Vadim Zherenko.
The Blues wore Pride jerseys and tape during warmup last season. Auctioned Pride jerseys, sticks, hats and bags raised nearly $25,000 for charity. In 2021, the team used Pride tape. In 2020, the Blues planned a “Hockey is for Everyone” watch party for an away game but was cancelled due to the pandemic.
As part of Pride Night, the team will have former Pride Idol winner Matt Bell sing the national anthem, and the Blues will honor a LGBTQIA+ service member. A Blues Pride T-shirt will be available for purchase, with proceeds going to Pride STL. Theme tickets are also being sold, with a Blues Pride bag given for every purchase of a theme ticket.
“With our Pride Night, alongside our partners from Pride STL and You Can Play Project, we are recognizing our friends in the LGBTQIA+ community and advocating for inclusivity in support of the NHL's Hockey is for Everyone initiative,” Blues president and CEO Chris Zimmerman said in a statement. “As an organization, we are committed to celebrating and welcoming all individuals as valued members of the Blues family — regardless of how they identify or whom they love.”
Last summer, Zimmerman and former captain Ryan O’Reilly participated in St. Louis’ Grand Pride Parade.
Zherenko recalled
The Blues recalled goaltender Vadim Zherenko under emergency conditions from AHL affiliate Springfield on Monday morning due to an injury to backup Thomas Greiss.
Zherenko was originally a seventh-round pick by the Blues in 2019 has never been recalled to the NHL. In his first season in North America, Zherenko has a .918 save percentage and 2.96 goals against average while serving as Joel Hofer’s backup.
Zherenko was pulled from his last start on Saturday after allowing three goals in the first period. He has five games this season of at least 40 saves, including a 53-save performance on March 19 at Providence.
If Zherenko plays with St. Louis, he would become the fourth goaltender to play for the Blues, joining Binnington, Greiss and Hofer.
Springfield’s next game is Tuesday in Bridgeport before hosting Hershey on Friday and playing at Lehigh Valley on Saturday. The Thunderbirds are currently in third place in the Atlantic Division (top six teams make the playoffs) and their magic number to clinch a postseason berth is down to four.
They are 21-6-2 in their last 29 games, a playoff push that has resulted in the Blues sending and keeping Hofer, Tyler Tucker and Nikita Alexandrov in Springfield.
Greiss gave up six goals during a 6-1 loss to the Predators on Saturday. He backed up Jordan Binnington for Sunday’s 4-3 shootout loss to the Bruins. Greiss, 37, will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer.
Eyes on the lottery
With a point in Sunday’s shootout loss to Boston, the Blues ensured they could finish no lower than seventh in the NHL standings this season. St. Louis is now guaranteed to finish above Chicago, Anaheim, Columbus, San Jose, Montreal and Arizona.
St. Louis currently has the 10th-worst record in the NHL.
The seventh-worst team has a 6.5% chance of winning the lottery, while the 10th-worst team has a 3.5% chance of winning the lottery. Only the bottom 11 teams are eligible to move up to the No. 1 pick.
