NHL Alumni Association introduces post-retirement wellness plan

UXBRIDGE, Ontario -- Glenn Healy says the edict of the NHL Alumni Association is “Make tomorrow better than today.”

Thanks in part to that organization, it’s become exactly that for more than 5,000-plus living ex-players who are grappling with life after hockey.

In what must be considered a significant step for all of them, the recent collective bargaining agreement between the NHL and NHL Players Association features a $4 million-plus donation from both parties combined for a post-retirement wellness plan.

The final details of that program were ironed out last week, allowing Healy to announce details of it to the 40 former players on hand for the NHL Alumni Celebrity Golf Classic at the picturesque Coppenwood Golf Club on Monday. With Hall of Famers like Paul Coffey, Doug Gilmour, Bryan Trottier, Mike Gartner and Mark Recchi showing their support, the association president outlined just how deeply its members now can get help once they’ve taken their final NHL shift.

“The way it’s set up now, if you’ve played one shift in the NHL you will get a family doctor. If you played one shift in the NHL you get a mental health wellness professional for you, your wife and your kids,” Healy said.

As impressive as that may be, it runs far deeper than that.

For those who played 400 games, they’ll receive dental and prescription eyewear coverage too. And for former players who haven’t reached that threshold and can’t afford the healthcare that they need, the League and NHLPA have established a slush fund for those, as Healy puts it, “in financial distress or find themselves in catastrophic situations.”

“This is Christmas Day for us in the sense that we took into consideration while building a better tomorrow than today, a wellness plan,” he explained. “That was always a goal.

“We wanted to be proactive because, in the past, we seemed to be reactive, waited for problems and then reacted to them. Too late. Be proactive. Preventative. Get on top of your own health. Go get bloodwork. Check to make sure that, for males, particularly when it comes to prostate cancer, don’t wait until it’s too late.

“All of us have something when it comes to health. Even as something as simple as: How many former NHLers still have their own teeth? These are all things we were looking to help deal with.”

According to Healy, one of the final details worked out last week involved NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and NHLPA president Marty Walsh coming to an agreement on how to help the widows and families of former players.

In the big picture, Healy said the process of completing the plan was drawn out because of the number of different native countries involving the Alumni’s members, each with their own individual insurance regulations.

“Hey, if this was, say, the NFL, you’re basically just dealing with a U.S. situation,” he said. “But we’re a global sport. We have 1,300 members in Europe alone.”

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, who was No. 1.

For Gartner, who served as the president of the NHLPA from 1996-98, it’s been a lengthy road to finally get the healthcare the alumni deserve.

“First of all, it’s essential,” Gartner said. “Secondly, it’s come a long way.

“This 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’s Glenn Healy. He’s done an unbelievable job on behalf of the former players to make something like this happen.”

Coffey is playing a significant role in that, too. The 65-year-old, who is on the Alumni Association’s board of directors, has aligned himself with EAS (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.

“The issues aren’t any different than they were 10 years ago. The problem was still there with the players, all of us,” Coffey said. “The difference is, now they have a place to go. And it’s OK. And it’s not just for the players: it’s for the wives, for the kids, for the families.

“Listen, we’re partnering with the families but we’re going to partner with other companies, too. So, it’s not just for athletes -- it’s for people in general. There’s a lot of stuff going on out there. And it’s not like the old days where you couldn’t tell anyone because you didn’t want to be perceived as weak. Those days are over.

“People still have issues. They still need somewhere to go for help. Look at what happened to Claude Lemieux.”

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.

“It shook all of us in a big way,” Healy said. “Look at who showed up in Florida for his service. Wayne Gretzky. Joe Sakic. Steve Yzerman. That says a lot.

“We are going to fight for him, and for the hope that there won’t be a next one, even though there will be. We’re going to do everything we can to make a difference, bit by bit.”

Truth be told, they already have.