Jordan Leigh, the girlfriend of Columbus Blue Jackets forward Patrik Laine, has responded to fans donating over $10,000 to Laine's men's mental health fund.
Professional athletes these days are more open about their mental health. Laine became one of the most recent athletes to take an indefinite leave from his respective sport to work on his mental health.
Patrik Laine has not played for the Blue Jackets since Dec. 14, 2023, and joined the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program last month. One of the reasons that may have contributed to Laine's mental health issues is the injury setback, including a clavicle fracture sustained in Dec. last year.
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The 25-year-old's 2023–24 campaign has not gone the way he'd hoped for, as Laine has only played 18 games so far. Nonetheless, the hockey community is rallying behind Laine and doing everything they can to ensure his recovery goes smoothly.
Recently, BR Open Ice posted on Instagram that fans had donated $10,000 to Patrik Laine's men's health fund. Jordan Leigh, the girlfriend of the Blue Jackets forward, shared the post and thanked them for their support.
In October last year, Laine extended his arm of support for the central Ohio community by lightning the lamp to raise men's mental health awareness.
The forward announced that he will donate $1,000 for each point he scores in the 2023-24 season to provide mental health resources and support to the Columbus community.
Podcast members apologize for making insensitive comments on Patrik Laine
During a recent segment of the B&B Round Table podcast, which is run by fans, a person named "Zach" made insensitive remarks about Laine's situation while discussing the Blue Jackets' injuries.
Zach said:
"Laine's out because he was contemplating a Remington retirement."
The term "Remington retirement" refers to someone taking their own life or committing suicide. The clip of the podcast spread like wildfire across social media platforms and received enraged reactions from fans.
Meanwhile, Patrik Laine, who has not been active on Twitter for more than a year, responded to the remarks and said:
"This is just not okay."
Elaine Shircliff, who was present at the pod as a guest said she would never appear on the podcast.
"Hi everyone, I was on a podcast last night where a joke was make that I didn't know what it meant," Shircliff said. "Therefore, I didn't laugh. Today, I was told that a "Remington Retirement" was a suicide joke. Moving forward I will no longer be on the @BnB_RoundTable . Suicide is not a joke."
The other three members of the podcast, SC Steve (who laughed at Zach's suicidal remarks), Zach, and Lil Boomer, all apologized to the Blue Jackets forward. Zach apologized for the "extremely bad comment" and announced that he had removed himself from the X (formerly Twitter) and canceled his Blue Jackets season tickets.
According to reports, each member announced to contribute to Patrik Laine's men's health awareness fund.
