In New Doc, Hockey’s Luke Prokop Talks Coming Out, Moving Up and That 2023 NHL Pride Tape Ban

The first openly gay player on an NHL contract offers viewers an inside look at the life of an aspiring star and LGBTQ+ trailblazer in ‘The Hockey Player,’ out now on Apple TV and Prime Video.

‘The Hockey Player’ chronicles Prokop’s experience as the only active gay hockey player in the league, while also diving into his insecurities and familial relationships. | Courtesy of ‘The Hockey Player’

There are very few people in the world, if any at all, who can relate to Luke Prokop.

The 24-year-old Edmonton native, who just wrapped a season on a farm team for his hometown Oilers, is the first openly gay hockey player under an NHL contract in history. There was no one before him—Brock McGillis, widely credited as the first openly gay professional hockey player, was never contracted in the NHL—and there has yet to be anyone after. 

You might find that shocking; it is 2026, after all. And surely—statistically, even—there must be someone else, another player preparing to soon follow in his wake. But Prokop isn’t holding his breath.

“I am surprised because [my coming out] was so positive and I did it at 19 years old,” he recently told Sports Illustrated. “I hadn’t even played my first professional hockey league game yet. I wasn’t established at all. I had a lot of things to worry about, [like] if it was going to affect my career. Someone who might be established in the NHL wouldn't necessarily have to worry about those things. 

“But on the other side of it, there’s a lot of pressure and responsibility and maybe some attention that they don't really want on themselves. So I can also understand it from the flip side of why someone might not want to come out.” 

Now five years removed from that pivotal pronouncement, and with an NHL debut still in his sights, Prokop reflects on it all in The Hockey Player, a new documentary chronicling the defenseman’s winding journey through the messy, machismo-driven world of ice hockey as one of the sport’s only openly homosexual men.

“I knew, personally, that [coming out] was gonna help me as a player, as a person, just being more confident [in general], being more confident on the ice,” he said. “But one of the main reasons I wanted to do it was, I remember growing up as a kid, and I wasn’t able to look at the TV screen and see someone playing in the NHL or in the AHL who was like me. Who was gay and playing. And I knew that if I came out, I was going to be able to be that for someone else out there.” 

The film crew followed Prokop around from city to city in service of the project. | Courtesy of ‘The Hockey Player’

Producer Taylor Prestidge and director Jacqueline Doorey spent three years filming the project, which took the film crew to six different cities—Seattle, Edmonton, Toronto, Milwaukee, Atlanta and Bakersfield—and yielded so much footage that “we could make two movies if we wanted to,” Prokop quipped.

The former third-rounder’s mixed-but-mostly-positive experience as the only openly gay and active player in the North American men’s game carries the lion’s share of the film’s tension, and rightfully so. But a smaller storyline—the relationship between him and his father—might be what impacts viewers the most.

As far as coming out stories go, Prokop’s was indisputably positive, even by his own admission. On July 19, 2021, about a year after he had shared his secret with his family, friends and agents, he posted a statement on Instagram announcing to the world that he was gay. The hockey community then rallied behind him swiftly and staunchly, and that was that.

It was an almost fairytale outcome for the then-19-year-old, who had already made peace with himself privately but was nonetheless nervous to share this news with the world. Still, there was one part of the experience that didn’t go as planned.

Hoping to ease her brother’s burden, Prokop’s older sister, Alanna, broke the news to their father on Luke’s behalf. It was a gesture rooted in love, certainly, but Prokop was unaware it was happening. As a result, he struggled with the fact that he wasn’t the one to share his truth with his father, someone with whom he had always had a hockey-first relationship.

“It was something that I kind of regret, that I wasn’t able to have that conversation with him, just because I think it would have made us closer as a father and a son. But it also, I think, took a lot of stress off of me of being able to have that conversation,” he said. “I felt mixed ways about it.”

As the documentary makes clear, Luke’s father had complicated feelings about that snub, as well. But it was frustration toward himself that he was grappling with, not disappointment in his son. The film’s most tender moments are those that explore this dynamic.

“We now have a really good relationship,” Prokop continued. “We talk a lot, and I'm comfortable talking to him about if I'm seeing someone or what's kind of going on in my life, where, you know, while COVID was happening and while I was younger, that was definitely not the case.” 

Prokop has worked hard to make peace with his identity as 'the gay hockey player.' | Courtesy of 'The Hockey Player'

It should, of course, be said that Prokop’s journey has not been without its challenges, as they relate both to his professional career and his sexual identity. Aside from the fact that he has yet to debut in the NHL—his ultimate goal as a hockey player—the league to which he aspires has also flirted with controversy relating to the LGBTQ+ community, specifically its 2023 decision to ban pride tape and pride jerseys following pushback from a small group of players. The tape ban was reversed quickly, but, as of the spring of 2026, pride jerseys and all other themed uniforms remain outlawed during NHL games. 

The situation calls to mind a similar and related controversy involving the MLB’s San Francisco Giants, who recently made waves after three pitchers protested a pride event by writing Bible verses on their hats. (The players received a warning from the league, which forbids writing of any kind on a team-issued cap, regardless of message.)

Asked about this parallel, Prokop offered a refreshingly and encouragingly wise perspective on the matter, for which he chose to focus primarily on the positives.

“I think a lot of people looked at the pride jerseys and the pride tape ban as a huge negative and a huge step back. And I think it was a bad decision, and a lot of people like to focus on the negative part of it, but if you look at it from the flip side, there’s, you know, 700 and some players in the league. And then there’s five players who didn't wear the jerseys,” he countered, speaking with SI. “That’s still, you know, 700 and however many players chose to wear them, chose to support.”

Prokop named players like Connor McDavid, Zach Hyman, Travis Dermott and Scott Laughton as those in the latter category, whose outspoken encouragement he remembers well.

“You also have to look at, there are a lot of allies in the league that will stand up for you when they believe in something that is very dear to their heart.”

Prokop still remembers those who spoke out in support of the LGBTQ+ community during the NHL's pride tape scandal. | Courtesy of 'The Hockey Player'

Since coming out, Prokop has found himself both burdened and blessed by the weighty shorthand of “the gay hockey player.” Depending on the day, the moniker is either a legacy-defining privilege or a reductive inconvenience around which his whole identity must revolve. Perhaps that’s why his sexual orientation was left out of the film’s title entirely—a subtle-but-impactful reminder that who we are comprises more than just who we love.

Initially, “[The ‘gay hockey player’ title] kind of followed me around everywhere I went, you know what I mean? Every new team I was on, people kind of only knew me for [being gay] and not necessarily my hockey ability. And I think, at that time, I was kind of frustrated with it, because I wanted to come out and I didn't think I was gonna have to do all this extra stuff. I kind of just wanted to go back to playing hockey and live my life.” 

Recently, however, Prokop has made peace with it all. Indeed, after years of reflection, this hockey player has reckoned with the significance of a decision he made at just 19.

“I realized I do have a responsibility and to listen to other people and hear their stories and help them in any way I can,” he said, “and so I think it's kind of grown on me.”

"The Hockey Player" is now available internationally on Apple TV+ and iTunes, and on Amazon Prime Video in the U.S. Coming soon to Amazon Prime Video in Canada. 

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