An 18-year-old youth wrote a letter to the NHL asking to not be drafted for the 2021 NHL draft after he publicly acknowledged that he was fined in Sweden last November for taking and also distributing a woman’s intimate photo. He did so without her knowledge or consent after a consensual sexual encounter, then distributed it to teammates on SK Lejon, a team in Sweden’s third division. He was in Sweden playing pro hockey this winter because COVID-19 affected OHL season.
Although the young man did come out and apologize and also asked the NHL teams not to draft him in a Twitter post. But is this enough? Logan Mailloux was drafted to the Montreal Canadiens, then was suspended from the Montreal Canadiens violating the league’s expectation for appropriate player conduct. The OHL says Logan can apply for reinstatement to the league on Jan 1, 2022, the team stated they will work closely with him and a decision about his reinstatement.
We should be asking why this happened in the first place? The Montreal Canadiens owner made a statement apologizing for drafting a player who violated woman’s consent, meaning that they knew it was wrong but did it anyways. If it was not socially acceptable, we would not have seen Logan get drafted at all even just to be suspended by his team. Why is it socially acceptable to share this kind of content in a team locker room? Is it because it can be seen as a type of team bonding to do so and therefore, he is only trying to fit in? We see these trend in team hazing as well. The sources linked above help show that situations like this can be overlooked for the purpose of sport.
Kaitlen L
Sport, Not Games ⚽ 