{"id":761848,"date":"2026-07-14T06:19:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T06:19:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/761848\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T06:19:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T06:19:10","slug":"nhl-alumni-association-introduces-post-retirement-wellness-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/761848\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL Alumni Association introduces post-retirement wellness plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

As part of the festivities Monday, each former player on hand was presented with a special platinum alumni ID card. Each one is numbered predicated on when an individual player signed their first respective NHL contract starting with the late Gordie Howe<\/a>, who was No. 1.<\/p>\n

For Gartner, who served as the president of the NHLPA from 1996-98, it\u2019s been a lengthy road to finally get the healthcare the alumni deserve.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst of all, it\u2019s essential,\u201d Gartner said. \u201cSecondly, it\u2019s come a long way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a vision years and years ago. But in order for it to come to fruition, you need two things. You need the funds to make it happen, and certainly the NHL and the NHL Players Association stepped up into that role in a big way and helped to do this. And then you need someone with a passion to put it all together and make it happen, and that\u2019s Glenn Healy. He\u2019s done an unbelievable job on behalf of the former players to make something like this happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coffey is playing a significant role in that, too. The 65-year-old, who is on the Alumni Association\u2019s board of directors, has aligned himself with EAS<\/a> (Empowerment. Accessibility. Support.), an organization stressing support for wellness in the workplace including mental health and supplying an outlet for those who need to talk.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe issues aren\u2019t any different than they were 10 years ago. The problem was still there with the players, all of us,\u201d Coffey said. \u201cThe difference is, now they have a place to go. And it\u2019s OK. And it\u2019s not just for the players: it\u2019s for the wives, for the kids, for the families.<\/p>\n

\u201cListen, we\u2019re partnering with the families but we\u2019re going to partner with other companies, too. So, it\u2019s not just for athletes — it\u2019s for people in general. There\u2019s a lot of stuff going on out there. And it\u2019s not like the old days where you couldn\u2019t tell anyone because you didn\u2019t want to be perceived as weak. Those days are over.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople still have issues. They still need somewhere to go for help. Look at what happened to Claude Lemieux<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The entire hockey world was in shock when Lemieux, a four-time Stanley Cup champion, took his own life on May 28. He was 60<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt shook all of us in a big way,\u201d Healy said. \u201cLook at who showed up in Florida for his service. Wayne Gretzky<\/a>. Joe Sakic<\/a>. Steve Yzerman<\/a>. That says a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to fight for him, and for the hope that there won\u2019t be a next one, even though there will be. We\u2019re going to do everything we can to make a difference, bit by bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Truth be told, they already have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As part of the festivities Monday, each former player on hand was presented with a special platinum alumni…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":761849,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-761848","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761848","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761848"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761848\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/761849"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761848"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761848"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761848"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}