Marc-Andre Fleury will wear a custom-designed mask for Native American Heritage night on Friday and it is unlikely that he or the team get fined for the decision, The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported.
Earlier in the day, Fleury’s agent Allan Walsh wrote on social media that the NHL is “refusing” to allow Fleury to wear the mask, even in warmups.
“Marc-Andre Fleury indicated he was planning to wear the mask anyway and pay the fine,” Walsh wrote. “The NHL then threatened the Wild organization with an additional significant fine.”
The NHL did not provide comment when contacted by Sportsnet.
The mask was designed by Cole Redhorse Taylor — a Dakota artist from the Prairie Island Community — and honours Fleury’s wife, father and kids.
“This means so much to our community but also Native people,” Taylor said in an interview with CBS News. “Dakota people, we are known for our floral designs, which are really distinct and very specific to us as a people.
“Then it was really, really significant because they’re like, ‘Yeah, Fleury, you know his nickname is “The Flower,”‘ so I was … like, perfect, so it just kind of came together very much so.”
The NHL banned on-ice uniform changes for specialty-themed nights after a handful of players made headlines last season for refusing to wear their clubs’ Pride Night jerseys.
“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 honour of various groups or causes, and we’d rather them continue to get the appropriate attention that they deserve and not be a distraction,” commissioner Gary Bettman told Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman in an exclusive interview following the NHL’s Board of Governors meeting in June, where the ban was first tabled.
The new rules rolled out with some confusion, especially among goaltenders.
Max Miller of The Hockey News reported earlier this month that Golden Knights goalie Logan Thompson was told he could not wear a Hockey Fights Cancer ribbon on his mask. However, Kraken goalie Phillip Grubauer and Panthers goalie Sergei Bobrovsky each wore Hockey Fights Cancer masks this season. It is not known if Grubauer or Bobrovsky were fined.
Fleury’s mask will be put up for auction by the Minnesota Wild Foundation with proceeds benefiting the American Indian Family Center, according to CBS News.