FILE - Former Chicago Blackhawks player Fred Sasakamoose is honored at the Edmonton Oilers-Chicago Blackhawks NHL hockey game Dec. 29, 2017, in Edmonton, Alberta. Sasakamoose is recognized as becoming the league's first Canadian aboriginal player in 1953, and he turned into a First Nations hero. But historians and the Hall of Fame would give that distinction to Mohawk player Paul Jacobs if he played in a game during the 1918-19 season. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

FILE - The New York Rangers, members of the National Hockey League, pose for a photo in 1928 in New York. From left to right, top row: Billy Boyd, Butch Keeling, manager Lester Patrick, Ching Johnson, Myles Lane, Taffy Abel and Paul Thompson. From left to right, bottom row: trainer Harry Westerby, Murray Murdock, Frank Boucher, Bill Cook, John Ross, Leo Bourgault and Bunny Cook. Abel was one of the first known Native American players in the NHL. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - Hockey Hall of Famer Willie O'Ree, left, waves to the crowd before dropping the ceremonial puck before an NHL hockey game between the Boston Bruins and the Edmonton Oilers in Boston, Jan. 4, 2020. The first elite Indigenous hockey players played well before Willie O’Ree became the first Black player to skate in an NHL game in January 1958. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer, File)