Shane Pinto's half-season suspension from the NHL shines a light on gambling education in hockey

Glenn Healy still remembers longtime NHL director of security Frank Torpey walking into a locker room in the 1980s to warn players about the pitfalls of illegal sports wagering.

Back then, a warning like that conjured images of shady bookies asking for injury information and taking cash. Now, gambling is legal across the U.S. and Canada and with that reality comes a different kind of danger.

Ottawa Senators player Shane Pinto was suspended earlier this season for 41 games for violating the league's gambling policy. No details were released, though the investigation found no evidence Pinto bet on NHL games. The situation prompted calls for better education on the subject.

"The education has always been there: I guess it has to be put onto speed dial and be more enforced today because gambling is more prevalent than it was in the '80s with the guy on the corner in a trench coat," said Healy, a retired goaltender who is now executive director of the NHL Alumni Association. "The league is not skirting it, and the NHLPA is not skirting it."

NHL Alumni has partnered with Entain Foundation U.S., a nonprofit that promotes responsible gambling and also works with the NFLPA's Professional Athletes Foundation and MLS Players Association, among others.

Current players had plenty of questions when Pinto was suspended, and the NHL Players' Association has tried to answer them.

"We just have to make sure we keep our players up to date on what the rules and regulations are so that they know not to get themselves in trouble," executive director Marty Walsh said recently. "We have to do more. We have to do more of educating them. We're going to get there."

Walsh said there was a 45-minute seminar on gambling at the rookie showcase in