Whether it’s a heated Stanley Cup playoff game or a preseason exhibition featuring NHL prospects, if the Ottawa Senators and Toronto Maple Leafs are playing, there will be scrums and fights. When one such encounter took place at Montreal’s Bell Centre over the weekend, a hulking defenseman in the Senators’ system was unafraid to muck it up.

“The boys had a lot of energy,” Djibril Touré, 22, said. “So I was just trying to settle them down a bit and let them know if anybody wants me, they could come get me.”

Somewhere in the fracas at Montreal’s Bell Centre on Saturday afternoon, Touré lost his helmet. As an official steered the 6-foot-7 Montreal native away from the melee, Touré barked at the Leafs’ bench. Skating away, Touré, who is Black, rubbed the back of his durag, a headwrap seldom seen in the mostly White sport of hockey.

A video clip of Touré wearing his black cloth durag quickly went viral on X, garnering more than 3.4 million views by the end of the weekend. Another post, which praised the uniqueness of a “brother wearing a durag during a game,” earned more than 93,000 likes.

Djibril Toure 🫡 pic.twitter.com/X92peYSbGQ

— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) September 13, 2025

We got a brother wearing a durag during a game, THIS IS NHL HISTORY https://t.co/Oux726bmcX

— Avry’s Sports Show (@Avry) September 13, 2025

“I have my braids in right now — I try to keep them in as long as possible,” Touré told The Athletic. “So the helmet doesn’t really help with that. But if you put on a durag, then it creates less friction. So it saves the hair. That’s the main reason.”

Worn by Black people to hold in moisture and keep hairstyles in place, durags have a decades-long history in professional sports. They were previously banned by the NFL in 2001, but seem to have made an under-the-radar comeback under the helmets of players like Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (Also common is the tighter-fitting wave cap, which unlike the durag typically requires no tying.) They were similarly banned in the NBA’s infamous dress code of 2005 and haven’t appeared on court since, though LeBron James has been known to sport them for media availabilities.

In MLB, pitcher Marcus Stroman, who was released by the New York Yankees last month, has worn durags during games and once was mocked by Arizona Diamondbacks broadcaster Bob Brenly for doing so. But the headwear has yet to hit high-level hockey — at least, until Touré.

“I don’t think I’ve seen it (in a game),” Touré said. “Sometimes in summer skates back in Montreal. But not ever in a real game. People usually use wave caps. But I don’t have that, so I just rock the durag.”

Early 2000s-era enforcer Georges Laraque and 2018 Stanley Cup winner Devante Smith-Pelly, both Black former NHL players, watched Touré’s viral video this weekend. Neither could remember another NHL player or prospect ever wearing one.

“You see a lot of guys in the NFL that do it,” Laraque said. “In hockey, I understand why people might think it’s a big deal because it’s not common. Because, first of all, there’s not a lot of Black players in the NHL.”

Added Smith-Pelly: “You’ve got to keep your hair cut tight — I understand. I thought it was actually hilarious.”

Despite the limited number of Black NHL players over the years, a wide variety of hairstyles have taken the ice. Laraque felt encouraged after playing for the Edmonton Oilers alongside then-forward Anson Carter, whose dreads rank among the most iconic hairstyles in NHL history. The enforcer eventually grew out his own dreads, while also rocking an afro and cornrows at different points in his career. But he says he didn’t experience much backlash — or even reactions — from opposing players because, he joked, not too many of them wanted to tussle afterward.

“I would’ve worn (a durag) if my hair was longer (when I played),” Laraque said. “So then I (wouldn’t) have my hair on my face when I fight, because it could be annoying.”

Touré, who admired Laraque while growing up in the Montreal borough of Dorval, first got into hockey around age five or six. When he played for local teams, Touré had an afro, opting for braids only in the summer.

As a player, he drew attention because of his size and skating. But he was passed over in the NHL Draft and spent two seasons playing Junior A in the Central Canada Hockey League before joining the Sudbury Wolves of the Ontario Hockey League. Touré then caught the eye of then-Senators GM Pierre Dorion, whose son Antoine had been teammates with the defenseman in the CCHL. Touré turned an amateur tryout into a three-year entry-level deal before the end of the month.

After splitting the 2023-24 season with Sudbury and the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires, Touré began his professional career in the ECHL with the Orlando Solar Bears last season. Because of the everyday sunshine, Touré felt inspired to rock braids year-round, getting his hair braided every other week. To protect his hair, he ordered packs of durags off Amazon and wore them underneath his helmet during games. That continued when he joined the Belleville Senators for the first time, ultimately registering six points in 36 games with Ottawa’s AHL affiliate.

“I was talking to (goalie) Malcolm Subban, he played with (Touré) last year,” Smith-Pelly said. “He would tell me he would always wear a durag. He did not care. He would always wear his durag. Everyone was just cool with it.”

Djibril Touré speaks to the media after Ottawa’s 4-3 win over Toronto on Saturday at the Bell Centre. (YouTube)

Touré’s durag comes at a time when the sport has slowly seen an increase in diversity, with 20 players of either Black, Latino or Indigenous descent being selected in this summer’s draft. The NHL runs a Player Inclusion Coalition to bring awareness to issues surrounding diversity, and a handful of BIPOC players came together in 2020 to form the Hockey Diversity Alliance with similar interests and goals.

“I guess it’s a sign that things are slowly changing,” Smith-Pelly said of the positive reaction to Touré’s choice of headwear. “When I first saw it, the first thing I thought was that some people were going to just be weird about it. I wasn’t, obviously, reading everything. But I didn’t see anything negative about it, which is surprising.”

Touré said he has received positive reactions from his teammates when he wears his durag, even joking that some teammates may want their own. But he’s also realized how impactful wearing a durag can be for other aspiring Black players with similar hairstyles.

“As a Black player, I just want to bring in my culture,” Touré said. “I was kind of hesitant to bring in different hairstyles. But I thought to myself, why not? I should showcase that for future kids to come. So I was happy I did that.”

(Photo of Touré in Feb. 2025, sans durag: Frank Jansky / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)