A few NHL players decided last year not to join their teams in wearing Pride Night-themed warmup sweaters. Gary Bettman and the NHL have made the decision to eliminate the sweaters altogether. The commi sioner, said Thursday the league has decided to prevent teams from wearing specialty warmup sweaters, which includes Pride Night, Military Appreciation, Hockey Fights Cancer and St. Patrick's Day gear. "I've suggested that it would be appropriate for clubs not to change their jerseys in warmups because it's become a distraction and taking away from the fact that all of our clubs in some form or another host nights in honor of various groups or causes," . "And we rather them continue to get the appropriate attention that they deserve and not be a distraction." MORE: The decision, which was approved by the NHL's Board of Governors, will not prevent teams from hosting themed nights or creating and selling specialty sweaters to raise money for charities. Bettman said players will be free to wear the sweaters and model them so long as it isn't during warmups. All the efforts and emphasis on the importance of these various causes Arland Bruce IV Jersey have been undermined by the distraction in terms of which teams, which players," Bettman said. "This way, were keeping the focus on the game. And on these specialty nights, were going to be focused on the cause. You Can Play, an activist campaign that works with leagues to become more inclusive with the LGBTQIA+ community, told ESPN in a statement that the organization was "concerned and disappointed" with the NHL's decision to eliminate the warmup sweaters. "Today's decision means that the over 95 percent of players who chose to wear a Pride jersey to support the community will now not get an opportunity to do so," . "The work to make locker rooms, board rooms and arenas safer, more diverse, and more inclusive needs to be ongoing and purposeful, and we will continue to work with our partners at the NHL, including individual teams, players, agents and the NHLPA to ensure this critical work continues." The Ontario Hockey League's Oshawa Generals also weighed in with a tweet saying their Pride jerseys will return next season, "bigger and better than ever before." Uhm, anyway, we promise to make our 2023-2024 Pride Jerseys bigger and better than ever before. Inclusivity matters. Advocacy matters. Showing up for your community matters. Oshawa Generals (@Oshawa_Generals) MORE: During the 2022-23 season, each NHL team held either a Pride or Hockey is for Everyone night, though not every player was on board with the warmup sweaters, , who did not participate in warmups when the team wore Pride Night jerseys. Provorov said he respected everybody's choices, but noted he was staying "true to myself and my religion." Provorov is a member of the Ru sian Orthodox church. The Flyers said in a statement many of its players were supportive of local LGBTQ+ organizations, "and we were proud to host our annual Pride night again this year." "The Flyers will continue to be strong advocates for inclusivity and the LGBTQ+ community," the team said. MORE: Several other players opted out of warmups on Pride Nights, including brothers Eric and Marc Staal, Ilya Lyubushkin, Denis Gurianov, James Reimer and Andrei Kuzmenko. Lyubushkin, Gurianov and Kuzmenko made the decision based on anti-gay laws in Ru sia, while the Staal brothers and Reimer cited their religious beliefs. Three NHL teams wound up pulling plans to wear Pride Night sweaters, with the Blackhawks, Wild and Rangers all making the decision to scrap plans to wear them during warmups. Nathan Bazata Jersey