You want grit and courage? Ladies and gentlemen, Travis Dermott

It wasn't exactly a gesture on the scale of Colin Kaepernick, but the Coyotes defenceman made a huge statement by defying the NHL's ban on Pride tape

In doing research for a story I’m working on for The Hockey News on the Boston Bruins’ 100^th anniversary, I came across a story from 1969 in the aftermath of the famous stick-swinging incident between Wayne Maki of the St. Louis Blues and Ted Green of the Bruins in a pre-season game that almost killed Green and resulted in criminal charges to both players.

In the days after the incident, former Bruins GM Milt Schmidt showed up at practice with helmets for each player on the team and told his players that if they weren’t interested in wearing them, they could leave the ice immediately. Everyone looked to Bobby Orr, who quietly skated off the ice. The rest of the Bruins followed the superstar defenceman and it immediately ceased being an issue.

Apropos of something, Arizona Coyotes defenceman Travis Dermott, who will never be confused with Orr, thumbed his nose at the NHL and its ridiculous ban on Pride tape by having strands of the rainbow-coloured adhesive on his stick for the team’s home opener Saturday night against the Anaheim Ducks. In doing so, he became the first player to make that bold a statement. And that’s not insignificant. Because it’s one thing for a superstar such as Bobby Orr to openly defy his employer, but it’s quite another for a 26-year-old journeyman third-pair defenceman who is on a one-year, two-way contract that pays him $800,000 in the NHL (and $450,000 in the minors).

Pretty damned courageous if you ask me. Without the security of a long-term deal, Dermott could have stayed silent and cowardly, you know, the way his players’ association has through all of this. But he chose to make a statement in his team’s home opener, daring the NHL to be on the wrong side of history by punishing him for being an open ally to the LGBTQIA+ community. A guy who’s a bad week from possibly being sent to the American Hockey League didn’t have to do this. Everyone would have understood. Last season, Dermott missed all but 11 games because of injuries and isn’t exactly secure as an NHL regular. Despite that, he committed an act of civil disobedience and became a hero, not only to the marginalized, but to those of who believe the NHL turtled on this issue as soon as it became uncomfortable.

But that’s just how Dermott rolls. He’s a bit of a different young man. Connor McDavid’s junior teammate is well-spoken and cerebral, but is hardly a shrinking violet on the ice. “He’s always been a free-spirited type of kid,” said Dermott’s agent, former NHLer Dave Gagner. “He plays a lot with reckless abandon. But he’s got a great personality and he’s really thoughtful. We’ll be in the middle of a conversation and he’ll say, ‘Yeah, and how are you doing?’ You don’t hear that from many young guys.”

What makes Dermott’s statement so impressive is that I’m told it took the Coyotes completely by surprise. Dermott probably knew what the answer would be if he asked prior to the game, but chose to beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission. Apparently, nobody in the organization knew of Dermott’s intent before the game, which gets the Coyotes off the hook with the league. This was a one-man act of defiance, which makes Dermott look even more heroic.

Dermott has now forced the league’s hand on the issue. It can either look like the pettiest sports organization on the planet by sanctioning Dermott or it can risk opening the floodgates for other players to follow Dermott’s lead. As is often the case, the NHL didn’t think this through and its inability to see the unintended consequences of its own lack of vision has put it in a bad spot. And that’s good because that’s exactly where the NHL deserves to be on this. I see a strongly worded memo coming.

You see, Dermott doesn’t have to worry about a fine or any other kind of punishment. What should concern him is he’s risking his livelihood, because there is a significant and critical mass of people in the game who would look at Dermott’s actions as selfish and counterproductive to a team mentality. Guys like that often find themselves ostracized and shunned by the establishment. See Kaepernick, Colin.

We all wondered who the first player to defy the NHL would be. Most of us thought it would be a superstar with the security of a long-term deal. But Travis Dermott has blazed the trail. Hockey people talk about courage and toughness and grit all the time and, with one act of defiance, Dermott has displayed those qualities in abundance. And for that he should be celebrated.