Toronto media member tries to create Pride Night controversy after player refuses to wear Pride sticker

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Josh tupper
April 4, 2023 (7:38 PM)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are holding their annual Pride Night. This season the league has come under controversy after multiple teams have opted to not wear Pride jerseys. The Maple Leafs have never worn a Pride jersey and opted to continue that trend.

However, the Maple Leafs chose to wear Pride stickers on their helmets. All players on the team except Ilya Samsonov opted to take part. Luke Fox a Maple Leafs media member chose to share the following details.

Maple Leafs wearing Pride decals on their helmets during warmup. Ilya Samsonov chose not to wear one. He was not made available pre-game to discuss his decision.

Fox made it out that Samsonov had not provided a reason for his decision and Leafs' fans quickly swooped in to defend their goaltender.

Samsonov has participated in previous pride nights with Washington, yet due to a new rule in Russia, he can't wear one due to his family's safety (in Russia).

Thanks for including that part in your tweet, Luke! Excellent job here.

This has become a trend for reporters to not share all the details, but good on Leafs fans for calling out this behavior and good on Samsonov for putting his family first.

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