from Kevin Paul Dupont of the Boston Globe,

Established some 75 years ago as a financial safety net for ex-players, PEFA is funded solely by fines and suspensions to the current working help, as meted the last couple of decades by the Department of Player Safety. It’s there if needed, and scores of ex-players have been helped through the years, albeit through the unintended largesse of the bad characters who continue to make their donations....

Headed into the weekend, according to Daly’s figures, roughly $600,000 in fines and suspension were assessed in the first two months of this season....

As long as there are the Wilsons of the world, and a fan appreciation for violence, there’s little chance of a funding shortage. Some years just yield bigger bounties than others.

“The fund — which pre-dates me by many years — has been instrumental in helping a lot of players,” Daly said. “I think since 1990 we’ve had in excess of 400 players, or player families, or people from the NHL family, who have received assistance from the fund.”

Ex-NHL executive, and for years the league’s one-man disciplinarian committee, Brian O’Neill oversaw PEAF long into his retirement from his day-to-day administrative duties. His successor, Hall-of-Fame center Pat LaFontaine, now 56, is now president and runs the fund with six other board members — three each from the league and player union sides.

“Pat is perfect for this job,” Daly said. “First of all, he stays in touch with the all the players. He has it deep down in his heart, the right and wrong, and he’s very sensitive and sympathetic to issues that players go through. He’s been fantastic so far. And … he’s lived it.”

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