Accredited Edmonton Oilers reporter and PHWA member reporting on the latest sports news in the Alberta capital.

<p>Pro hockey&#8217;s first openly gay player is being featured in a documentary this summer.</p>
<p>Luke Prokop, a 23-year-old Edmonton Oilers prospect, <a href="https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/nashville-predators-luke-prokop-first-gay-player-nhl-history" target="_blank">came out in 2021</a> and remains the only openly queer player in professional hockey.</p>
<p>A third-round draft pick by the Nashville Predators in 2020, Prokop was a junior hockey player with the Calgary Hitmen, Edmonton Oil Kings, and Seattle Thunderbirds before turning pro. The 6-foot-5 defenceman is currently in his first season with the Oilers&#8217; AHL affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors.</p>
<p>Coming out was something that took a lot of courage and could have impacted his professional career. The sport has had a tumultuous history with the LGBTQ2S+ community, with the <a href="https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/nhl-bans-pride-jerseys" target="_blank">NHL recently banning specialty jerseys</a> after some players refused to wear them.</p>
<p>That, combined with a fear of scrutiny among coaches, teammates, and fans, is seen as a reason why there may not be more openly-queer hockey players in the sport.</p>
<p>Yet, nearly five years after telling the world he is gay, Prokop doesn&#8217;t regret revealing his true self.</p>
<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s definitely changed, but I&#8217;d say it&#8217;s changed for the better,&#8221; Prokop said in an exclusive interview with Daily Hive. &#8220;I think I&#8217;ve grown a lot in the relationships that I have with my teammates and coaches. I think I am able to connect to the fans a bit better.&#8221;</p>
<p>Prokop has played for three different pro teams, and participated in NHL training camps with Nashville and Edmonton.</p>
<p>&#8220;I think being out has kinda helped me really embrace who I am, and some of my best friendships have come after I&#8217;ve come out. I think it&#8217;s something that&#8217;s really cool that I can be on all these different teams and have all these different teammates, and for them to truly accept me for who I am and not care about anything has been really awesome.&#8221;</p>
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<p lang="qme" dir="ltr">❤️🧡💛💚💙💜 <a href="https://t.co/7zqT0A2gJj">pic.twitter.com/7zqT0A2gJj</a></p>
<p>&mdash; luke prokop (@lukeprokop_6) <a href="https://twitter.com/lukeprokop_6/status/1417114803118563332?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 19, 2021</a></p></blockquote>
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<p>Prokop&#8217;s historic announcement drew headlines across North America.</p>
<p>&#8220;I don&#8217;t love being the centre of attention. Even when I came out, I knew it was going to be a big deal; I didn&#8217;t know it was going to get as big as it did,&#8221; Prokop said. &#8220;I wanted to come out publicly and go straight back to work, and it got a little more attention than I anticipated.</p>
<p>&#8220;Which isn&#8217;t a bad thing to have my story reach more people.&#8221;</p>
<p>Over the past four seasons, Prokop has had a documentary film team follow and document his career across four different hockey leagues. Cameras have followed him through the WHL, ECHL, AHL, and through NHL preseason and training camps.</p>
<p>It&#8217;s all in an attempt to capture the real-life journey of the first openly gay professional hockey player, which will be released to audiences this June as a sports doc called <em>The Hockey Player</em>.</p>
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<p>Shortly after coming out, he was approached by Taylor Prestidge, a film producer at <a href="https://www.uppercanadafilms.ca/" target="_blank">Upper Canada Films</a>, about the prospect of making the documentary.</p>
<p>A self-described introvert, Prokop admitted he was reluctant to say yes.</p>
<p>&#8220;It took a little bit of convincing,&#8221; Prokop admitted. &#8220;But thinking about it, if I can help someone else out there that might be going through something similar and just by watching the documentary, it gives them a little bit of help, a little bit of hope, I&#8217;m happy to do it.</p>
<p>&#8220;[Prestidge] told me he wanted to make a movie about my journey&#8230; I was kinda hesitant at the start. I think something that big you have to take a lot of stuff into consideration, but I ended up deciding to do it.&#8221;</p>
<p>The crew started following Prokop during his last WHL season with the Seattle Thunderbirds in 2022-23.</p>
<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve always been someone who&#8217;s been passionate about growing the game of hockey and making it a better place,&#8221; Prestidge told Daily Hive.</p>
<p>&#8220;I felt like this was a golden opportunity for fans of the sport, or people who are just fans of documentaries in general, to follow a story of not only a pioneer within the sport and his community, but to follow the story of what that journey is like and how arduous it is to become a full-time NHL player.&#8221;</p>
<p><a href="https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/oilers-add-defenceman-edmonton-prokop" target="_blank">Prokop inked a deal with his hometown Oilers</a> last summer. It was a dream come true for him to sign a deal with the team he grew up cheering for.</p>
<p>&#8220;Ultimately, I think this was the right place for me to go,&#8221; Prokop said. &#8220;I have connections with the organization, being from Edmonton, and feeling comfortable there&#8230; I still watch them in the playoffs. Even though I was drafted to another team, I still cheer for them.&#8221;</p>
<div id="attachment_2253738" style="width: 2058px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-2253738" class="size-full wp-image-2253738" src="https://images-dh-production-baselayer.dailyhive.com/uploads/2026/03/Oilers-Prokop.jpg" alt="Oilers-Prokop" width="2048" height="1365" srcset="https://images-dh-production-baselayer.dailyhive.com/uploads/2026/03/Oilers-Prokop.jpg 2048w, https://images-dh-production-baselayer.dailyhive.com/uploads/2026/03/Oilers-Prokop-500x333.jpg 500w, https://images-dh-production-baselayer.dailyhive.com/uploads/2026/03/Oilers-Prokop-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https://images-dh-production-baselayer.dailyhive.com/uploads/2026/03/Oilers-Prokop-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://images-dh-production-baselayer.dailyhive.com/uploads/2026/03/Oilers-Prokop-1200x800.jpg 1200w" sizes="(max-width: 2048px) 100vw, 2048px" /><p id="caption-attachment-2253738" class="wp-caption-text">Prokop at a Milwaukee Admirals practice in 2024 (Dave Kallmann-Milwaukee Journal Sentinel/Imagn Images)</p></div>
<p>He hopes this documentary can help encourage people to live their true lives and follow their dreams without fear, just like he has.</p>
<p>&#8220;It just gives another level of hope,&#8221; Prokop said. &#8220;It can provide hope for someone else in a similar spot in a different workplace, so they keep pursuing their dreams, keep going for their goals, whatever that may be.</p>
<p>&#8220;If you work hard enough, you should be given every right and every opportunity. For the queer community, it&#8217;s a little bit difficult, a couple more hurdles to hop over, but that just makes us so much more resilient.&#8221;</p>
<p>Red-carpet premieres for <em>The Hockey Player</em> are set for Edmonton and Toronto. The documentary will be available to watch via Apple TV, Prime Video, and OUTtv in June.</p>
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An Edmonton Oilers prospect will be featured in a documentary this summer, and it will be something the hockey world has never seen.