Luke Prokop came out as gay to his mother, and while Nicole Prokop embraced her son’s decision she had a very specific concern.“She was worried about my hockey career and how it might impact it,” Prokop recalled. Pioneers such as Jason Collins (NBA) and Carl Nassib (NFL) came out as gay while they were playing. The 23-year-old Prokop in 2021 became the first player drafted and signed by an NHL team to come out, though he has yet to play in the sport’s top league. Like the NHL, no active Major League Baseball player has come out while playing.With the popularity of the show “Heated Rivalry” featuring two gay players putting a spotlight on the sport, it raised the question of how an openly gay player would be accepted in the NHL. Key stakeholders point out there are challenges but say hockey is primed for the emergence of another pioneer.“I think people are ready for this,” said longtime league and team executive Brian Burke, whose late son Brendan came out in 2009 and made his father one of the leading advocates for LGBTQ+ access. “A player like that would be welcomed. Now, he’d face some hard right-wing criticism and social media abuse, but I think we’re ready for it.”Collins in 2013 became the first active player in one of the four North American major professional men’s sports leagues to come out. Nassib in 2021 — a month before Prokop — became the first in the NFL. There are a number of openly gay players in top women’s leagues, including the WNBA and PWHL.Burke, who was executive director of the PWHL Players’ Association from 2023-25, said he is surprised a player in the best men’s hockey league in the world has not yet come out.There are myriad reasons it hasn’t happened yet, from concerns over the feelings of family members and teammates to the team-centric culture of hockey that discourages standing ou …
