NHL continues diversity efforts during AS events
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Kim Davis sees a change in hockey from when she was a girl growing up in Chicago. Back then, she said, the sport didn’t seem like a place for Black girls like her.
“There were no intentional messages that said the sport was for me, or for us,” said Davis, the NHL’s executive vice president of social impact, growth and legislative affairs.
That is slowly changing, Davis said.
She was hired in 2017 to lead diversity and inclusion initiatives in a league that has been criticized for its efforts in those areas. As the NHL prepares for its All-Star celebration in South Florida, its attempts to increase diversity continue to attract attention, not all of it positive.
Some have questioned the NHL’s commitment to change, and others have resisted some of its diversity efforts. Davis said the league hopes to combat criticism by holding itself accountable and “proving people wrong.”
“We don’t mind the hard questions being asked,” Davis said, “as long as the assessment is fair.”
As the start of Black History Month coincided with the All-Star events, the NHL debuted a mobile museum that highlights minority and underrepresented contributors to the game, from Angela James, who was the first Black woman inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, to Kevin Weekes, the former NHL goalie who became the first Black former player to be a hockey analyst on national television.
“Inclusion is what’s most important because you can be diverse, but if you’re not inclusive, what’s the point of having diversity?” said Jeff Scott, the NHL’s vice president for community development and growth, who helped with the museum’s creation. “What we’re showing here with this experience is the representation of access and opportunities.”
Scott, who is Black, mentioned that hockey did not appear to be an option for him growing up. The goal of the museum, which is set up inside a bus that the league plans to bring to all 32 NHL markets, is to help eliminate some of the same barriers to entry into the sport that existed when he was young.
“Had I known that there was an option, or there were people out there that look like me,” Scott said, “I may have been more inclined to do that.”
The league in October released an internal demographic study of its staff and 32 teams. The report found that the NHL’s workforce is 83.6% white with men making up 62% of the total, based on the 4,200 people who participated in a voluntary and anonymous survey (about 67% of all employees). More than 90% of the league’s players and nearly all of its coaches and officials are white.
Davis said the league plans to update the survey every two years to mark its progress.
“We knew our demographics would be controversial at best,” Davis said, “but we wanted to be transparent because we are holding ourselves, first of all, accountable to the change.”
By the time the next report is released, Davis said she hopes both fans and employees feel more welcomed by the league.
“The word I like to use is ‘intentionality,'” Davis said. “We’re being intentional about making sure that people who otherwise have not seen the sport of hockey as something that was accessible to them, see it as accessible.”
One of those ways is through the NHL’s “Pathway to Hockey” summit, which encourages newcomers to learn about hockey and consider careers in the NHL by telling the stories of people who work for the league.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican and potential presidential candidate, criticized the league’s original advertisement of the summit, calling it discriminatory. The ad noted that participants must identify as female, Black, Asian/Pacific Islander, Hispanic/Latino, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+ and/or disabled.
“We do not abide by the woke notion that discrimination should be overlooked if applied in a politically popular manner or against a politically unpopular demographic,” Bryan Griffin, DeSantis’ press secretary, said in a statement. “We are fighting all discrimination in our schools and our workplaces, and we will fight it in publicly accessible places of meeting or activity. We call upon the National Hockey League to immediately remove and denounce the discriminatory prohibitions it has imposed on attendance to the 2023 ‘Pathway to Hockey’ summit.”
The NHL, after revising the post, held the summit in Fort Lauderdale as planned, with more than 120 attendees, Davis said. She estimated that the participants had an average age of 25.
As recently as five years ago, Davis added, the league likely wouldn’t have been able to attract a diverse pool of people in that age group.
“When you’re not visible, a lot of times you’re nonexistent,” Scott said. “We as a league are hyper-focused on what the future and growth of our game looks like while also sustaining and maintaining our current fan base.”
TAMPA, Fla. — Three-and-a-half weeks into his New York Yankees career, Devin Williams doesn’t resemble the All-Star closer who dominated hitters with the Milwaukee Brewers.
Brandon Lowe tied the score with a two-run single in a four-run ninth inning off Williams, Jonathan Aranda hit a two-run homer in the 10th against Yoendrys Gomez, and the Tampa Bay Rays beat the Yankees 10-8 on Saturday to stop New York’s five-game winning streak.
“Yeah, four-run lead, you’d like to get in and get out,” Williams said. “Made some good pitches; made some bad ones. Not enough good ones today.”
Williams has a 9.00 ERA and has allowed runs in four of nine appearances. While he has four saves in four chances, Williams has walked seven in eight innings, and opponents have a .333 average against him.
“We got a long way to go,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of Williams. “It’s a little bump here early, and he’s got all the equipment to get through it.”
Luke Weaver, who struck out two in a perfect eighth, could become an increasingly enticing option to replace Williams as closer. After thriving when he took over the closer role from Clay Holmes late last season, Weaver has not allowed a run in 11 innings over nine games this year and has given up just two hits while striking out 13 and walking five.
Acquired in December from Milwaukee for left-hander Nestor Cortes and infield prospect Caleb Durbin, Williams can become a free agent after the season.
Williams converted 14 of 15 save chances with a 1.25 ERA for the Brewers last year, striking out 38 and walking 11 in 21⅔ innings. Diagnosed during 2024 spring training with two stress fractures in his back, he didn’t make his season debut until July 28.
Given an 8-4 lead, Williams allowed Jose Caballero‘s one-out single on a chopper as third baseman Oswaldo Cabrera made a high throw, for an error, then walked No. 9 batter Ben Rortvedt. Chandler Simpson hit an opposite-field RBI double to left for his first big league hit, Yandy Diaz hit a run-scoring infield single and Lowe singled to left.
“A lot of soft contact,” Boone said.
Williams allowed the hits to Caballero, Diaz and Lowe on his changeup, known as an airbender.
“Just the changeup to Lowe. I’d like to have that one back,” Williams said. “Tough luck on that double down the line, but aside from that, I thought I threw the ball pretty well.”
Williams generated just one swing-and-miss among his seven changeups.
“Maybe using it too much,” he said. “We’ll work on that.”
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