Elliotte Friedman reveals NHL’s biggest 'concern' over playing national anthems amid rising Canada-USA tensions

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman highlighted the issue of the continued booing amid the current geopolitical tensions between the USA and Canada. US President Donald Trump’s statements about imposing tariffs on Canadian goods to the US and his repeatedly referring to the nation as the “51st State” have been met with vocal and active disapproval north of the border.

One way in which Canadians expressed their ire was by booing whenever the US national anthem was sung at sports events. This happened multiple times during the NHL and the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Sportsnet analyst Friedman talked about the internal debate during Monday’s edition of his “32 Thoughts” podcast.

"I heard this in the aftermath of the GM meetings. One manager brought it up, I don’t know who," Friedman said (55:45). "Even before the meetings, some teams had asked the league about it. Obviously, there’s booing going on right now, and the discussion ranged from whether to stop doing it to concerns about how it was affecting the singers.”

Friedman and his co-host Kyle Bukauskas also talked about some changes that have already been made, such as the Ottawa Senators playing a recorded version of the US national anthem rather than having it sung live since a couple of weeks ago.

Friedman stated that the league’s current decision is not to intervene.

“I do know there was concern for the singers, but ultimately, the league decided to keep the status quo,” Friedman said. “Booing has happened before, and historically, the league’s stance has been to leave things as they are. I’ve told this story before.

"I know some people feel the anthems don’t even need to be there, but I remember, there was a time we went away from showing the anthems…and we got a lot of viewer complaints." [57:25 onwards]

Elliotte Friedman raises sole concern about popular 4 Nations Face-Off

The 4 Nations Face-Off, a best-on-best hockey tournament that featured NHL players from the USA, Canada, Sweden and Finland, was a rousing success and signaled the return of international tournaments to the calendar.

In his “32 Thoughts” Sportsnet column on Thursday, Friedman raised one issue that become more pertinent due to the upcoming Olympics and World Cup of Hockey.

"Only real concern from otherwise magnificent 4 Nations: making sure NHL teams have access to information when their players suffer injuries," Friedman wrote."

Hockey is set to return to the Olympics next year during the games in Italy.