The newly formed Hockey Diversity Alliance is independent of the NHL, but the group's co-head, Evander Kane, hopes to form some sort of partnership with the league.

"We want to work with the league in order to establish and create this necessary change in our game and the culture of our game," Kane said, according to The Point Hockey's Sheng Peng. "It's imperative that we work with the league in order to accomplish some of those goals."

Former NHL defenseman Akim Aliu is the group's other co-head. The rest of the executive committee is made up of active and former black NHLers, including Trevor Daley, Wayne Simmonds, Matt Dumba, Joel Ward, and Chris Stewart.

The alliance's mission is to combat racism in hockey, as well as in society as a whole.

"What we seek from the league is really an ear," Kane continued. "Somebody who can really listen to some of the things that we want to implement, policies we think that can help change the present time and moving on into the future. That starts with the NHL, trickling down to minor hockey. There are things that the NHL can bring to the table. We feel very strongly, as an alliance, there's a lot we can bring to the table, knowledge when it comes to rectifying a lot of these issues."

The NHL appeared to show support for the alliance with a string of retweets Monday, but the league has not formally announced whether it will work with the group.

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