What Is the NHL Player Assistance Program?

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When an NHL team announces that a player has entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program, the statement is almost always the same: the player will be away indefinitely to receive care. The league and union say nothing more. No timeline, no diagnosis, no details. That privacy is the point.

Since its creation in 1996, the program has served as the league's joint framework for helping players navigate mental health struggles, substance use disorders, and other personal challenges. It exists in the background of every NHL season, rarely discussed until a familiar name disappears from a roster.

About the NHL Player Assistance Program?

The NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program is a joint initiative between the National Hockey League and its players' union that provides confidential support to players and their families dealing with mental health issues, substance abuse, and other personal challenges. Participation is voluntary. Players who enter the program continue to receive their salary, and neither the league nor the NHLPA discloses the reason a player has enrolled.

The program also maintains a confidential hotline, giving players and their families direct access to mental health professionals without having to go through their team.

Teams learn of a player's involvement only through their own disclosure to the program, and public announcements are typically limited to the bare fact of entry. This structure was designed deliberately. For a program built on trust, confidentiality isn't a feature; it's the foundation.

What Does the Program Cover?

The program addresses three broad categories: mental health, substance use and addiction, and other personal wellness concerns. A player can enter for anxiety, depression, alcohol dependency, addiction to other substances, or issues that may not fit neatly into any single label. The program has also evolved over the years to better reflect the mental health challenges that receive far more open discussion in professional sport than they did in the 1990s when it launched.

Families are included. A player's relatives can access program resources, an acknowledgment that personal crises don't stop at the locker room door.

The Four Stages of the NHL Player Assistance Program

The program operates on a staged structure that reflects the nature of the support a player requires and whether they have remained compliant with their treatment plan.

Stage 1 is the starting point for any player entering the program for the first time. It is entirely voluntary, fully confidential, and carries no financial penalty. A player remains on salary throughout. The goal is evaluation, counseling, and building a treatment plan. Most players who enter the program never progress beyond this stage.

Stage 2 is triggered when a player violates the terms of their Stage 1 treatment plan. At this point, the player is suspended without pay during the active phase of treatment but becomes eligible for reinstatement once that phase concludes.

Stage 3 follows a violation of a Stage 2 treatment plan. It carries a mandatory suspension without pay for a minimum of six months, after which the player can apply for reinstatement. This stage became widely known when Valeri Nichushkin of the Colorado Avalanche was placed in Stage 3 in May 2024, midway through the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Stage 4 represents the final escalation, reached when a player violates the terms of their Stage 3 plan. Suspension without pay lasts a minimum of one year, and reinstatement to the league is not guaranteed.

One important note on salary cap implications: a player's contract cap hit remains on the team's books throughout their time in the program. There is no cap relief for the franchise unless the player is placed on long-term injured reserve through a separate mechanism.

Players Who Have Entered the Program

The list of players who have entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program in recent seasons includes some of the most recognizable names in the game, which has helped bring more public attention to what the program actually does.

Carey Price of the Montreal Canadiens entered the program in October 2021. When he returned to the team in November, he released a public statement disclosing that he had entered a residential treatment facility for substance use. His openness gave the program a visibility it had rarely had before.

Samuel Girard of the Colorado Avalanche entered in November 2023, releasing a statement that named severe anxiety and depression that had gone untreated for too long and led to alcohol abuse. He encouraged others to seek help and returned to game action on New Year's Eve.

Patrik Laine of the Columbus Blue Jackets entered in January 2024, citing the need to prioritize his mental health and well-being. He was cleared to return in July of that year, though he never played another game for Columbus.

Evgeny Kuznetsov of the Washington Capitals entered the program in February 2024, becoming the fourth player announced in the program during that single NHL season.

Jakub Vrana of the Detroit Red Wings entered in October 2022 and missed significant time. His situation drew additional attention when the Red Wings subsequently placed him on waivers, raising questions about how teams navigate roster decisions when a player is working through the program.

Jack Campbell, also of the Detroit Red Wings, entered the program at the start of the 2024-25 season, the first player announced in the program that fall.

Why Participation Has Increased

Five players entered the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program during the 2023-24 season -- the same number that had participated across the previous three seasons combined. League and union officials framed that increase as a sign of cultural progress rather than systemic crisis: players are more willing to seek help than they once were.

That framing has a reasonable basis. Professional hockey culture has historically been defined by toughness and silence. Players who struggled with mental health or addiction tended to manage it privately, often poorly. The greater openness around mental health in sport broadly, and the public disclosures from players like Price, Girard, and Laine specifically, have helped normalize asking for help.

Whether the program's structure fully serves players dealing with substance use disorders is a separate and harder question. The staged escalation system creates financial consequences for treatment non-compliance, a design that makes clinical sense as an accountability structure but sits uncomfortably alongside the reality that addiction is rarely linear.

What Happens When a Player Returns

A player cannot simply leave the program when they feel ready. Release must be authorized by the program's representatives. Once cleared, a player typically goes through a conditioning process before rejoining the active roster.

The timeline varies significantly. Some players return within weeks. Others are away for a full season or longer. Carey Price never returned to playing in the NHL. Samuel Girard came back and addressed the public directly on his return. Valeri Nichushkin, after his Stage 3 placement, eventually returned to game action the following season.

For the players who do come back, the program's confidentiality means the public rarely knows the full picture of what they worked through. That limitation is part of the design. The NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program doesn't exist to generate stories. It exists to help players get through them.