Brutal accusations against the NHL/NHLPA’s player assistance program!

This past Friday, Colorado Avalanche defenseman Samuel Girard entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program citing issues with anxiety, depression and alcohol abuse. While we all hope he gets the help he needs in the program, former NHL goalie Scott Darling does not believe it will be useful as he voiced his disdain for the NHL and NHLPA’s joint player assistance program in an interview on the What Chaos! Podcast. Host Pete Blackburn was interrupted by Darling when he was talking about the program being a “good thing” for the league and its players.

“F— them,” Darling said. “I told players [about] what I went through. If you need help, do it on your own. Don’t ever go through the PA. I’ll say, honestly, I hope you guys F—ng here this. They’re monsters.”

Darling even added that players are often facing a looming threat of contract termination.

“They are trying to make you break your contract,” Darling said. “If you walk out the door, then the NHL can break your contract.”

Girard is the latest player to enter the program after Florida Panthers goalie Spencer Knight attended it to receive help for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Former high-profile players who also attended the program include netminder Carey Price and forward Bobby Ryan in recent years.

Darling believes the program, who was put in place in 1996, needs people in place who actually want to help the players.

“If you can’t trust the people who are trying to help you, why the F—would you go through there?” Darling said.

The former goalie opened up on his personal issues, saying he’s suffered from anxiety, depression, sexual trauma and alcohol abuse. He last played overseas in Austria for the 2019-20 campaign and played one game for the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs in 2020-21 before hanging up his pads and called it a career.

He won a Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2015.

Recommended articles:

• Another NHL player enters the NHLPA Player Assistance Program
• Milan Lucic enters NHLPA Player Assistance Program
• Goalie Spencer Knight leaves Panthers, enters Player Assistance Program
• Former first round pick Michael McCarron enters NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program.
• Predators goalie Connor Ingram enters the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program.