NHL takes a stance on the national anthem controversy.

The NHL has made up its mind about the recent controversy around the national anthems.

The National Hockey League has been subjected to a little controversy over the past several weeks surrounding the playing of the Canadian and American national anthems prior to the start of hockey games.

In response to things that have absolutely nothing to do with the sport we all know and love, some fans have taken it upon themselves to boo one anthem or the other prior to the start of hockey games. There have been multiple incidents around the league over a large period of time, and it would seem that the National Hockey League has finally chosen how they will address the matter.

By doing nothing at all.

According to recent comments made by NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, the NHL will opt to keep things status quo, opting to maintain tradition in the league rather than change their policies surrounding the anthem because of a few unruly fans.

NHL takes a stance on the national anthem controversy.

“Obviously there’s booing going on right now,” acknowledged Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast. “I heard the league just said ‘We’re just going to keep the status quo.'”

Friedman added that the league has faced controversies surrounding the anthems in the past but has always gone the route of choosing to honor tradition rather than adopting any changes. 

“There have been times it’s happened before and their history has always been just status quo, and that is what they are going to do,” said Friedman.

It fact it seems Friedman suspects that there would be more fans upset if the tradition was broken than vice versa.

“I remember at CBC there was a time we went away from showing the anthems and we got a lot of viewer complaints, to the point that we made it policy that we were going back to do it,” revealed Friedman. “That was what we did at the time and the NHL has the same belief.”

Are you happy with the decision from the league to just keep moving forward with the way things have always been? Or would you have preferred a more tangible response from the NHL? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.