NHL unveils commitment to diversity, including mandatory training sessions

The NHL will extend its commitments to inclusion, diversity, safety, and respect, it announced at the board of governors meeting on Thursday.

The new initiatives come in the wake of the alleged sexual assault of Kyle Beach in 2010 and the Chicago Blackhawks' mishandling of the incident.

NHL senior executive vice president of social impact, growth, and legislative affairs Kim Davis is spearheading the initiatives, which are built on a foundation of prevention, reporting, counseling, and accountability.

The league intends to cooperate with Sheldon Kennedy's Respect Group to create a mandatory online training program for all executives, staff, and players with the aim of positively changing hockey culture. Kennedy, a sexual abuse survivor and former NHL player, founded the Respect Group in an effort to prevent abuse and harassment in sports.

The sessions will last 90 minutes and contain messaging customized by each team, according to NHL.com's Dan Rosen.

The goal is for all teams and employees to be certified in the training program by June 30, 2022.

The league also announced its mission to establish a hotline for anyone affiliated with non-NHL organizations to confidentially report incidents of abuse and misconduct.

The NHL has had such a system in place since 2019, which Davis said is working as it should. League commissioner Gary Bettman said the NHL abuse hotline has received more calls but nothing to the magnitude of the Blackhawks scandal, according to ESPN's Greg Wyshynski.

The league will also focus on diversifying hiring practices and hold a "Respect Hockey Summit" in 2022 to bring together leaders of the largest organizations in the sport to discuss culture challenges.

The NHLPA, AHL, Hockey Canada, USA Hockey, the Premier Hockey Federation, and the Professional Women's Hockey Players Association are among the organizations committed to participating.