Former Blackhawks Goalie Writes a Letter to The NHL and Demands Changes be made

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Jacob LP
December 23, 2022 (3:14 PM)

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This week, Dominik Hasek released an open letter directed towards the National Hockey League (NHL) regarding the ongoing war in Ukraine. The Hall of Fame goaltender believes the NHL should take action to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. In his letter, Hasek again calls for the league to ban Russian players from playing in games as long as the war continues.

Here is an excerpt from the letter

I consider it important to also mention Russian athletes who, like all of us adults, are responsible for the actions of their country. First of all, I want to emphasize that every Russian athlete has the right to any opinion about the war in Ukraine, and we should always respect that. Of course, this does not mean that we have to agree with it. However, unless we want to support Russia's war in Ukraine and all the horrors that come with it, we cannot allow Russian athletes to compete with us at this time. I do not consider their non-participation in any way a sanction against them, but to encourage an end to this war thereby saving tens of thousands of lives, including their fellow Russian soldiers, who were recruited to fight.

I want to believe that in the short-term you will decide to stop supporting the war in Ukraine and will not allow Russian athletes to advertise Russia's aggressive policy in your competitions, as most competitions in the world have decided. If you make this choice, I would like to use this letter to ask you for maximum support for all "your" Russian athletes in this difficult time for them, when they will not be able to participate in our competitions. This should come in the form of financial support not only for each athlete, but also for their family, including quality health insurance. This should be easily achievable in collaboration with the NHLPA, and I believe that the WTA and ATP can also solve this.

The former Buffalo Sabers goaltender strongly believes that the NHL has a role to play in this conflict. We'll see if the NHL listens to him in the coming weeks, but it probably will not happen. If the league wanted to go in this direction and impose these kinds of sanctions on Russian players, it probably would have been done a long time ago.