FILE - Team Canada goaltender Jake Paterson is congratulated by defenseman Adam Pelech after defeating Germany in a qualification round game at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships in Malmo, Sweden, in this Thursday, Dec. 26, 2013, file photo. Goaltender Jake Paterson is studying to get his real estate license while also playing minor league hockey with the Allen Americans of the ECHL. Paterson joined the Professional Hockey Players Association’s career enhancement program last spring after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn, FIle)

This photo provided by Steve Johnson shows Steve Johnson posed in a plane in Eden Prairie, Minn., in a Sept. 2019 photo. When the pandemic put hockey on ice, many minor league players started planning for what's next. Steve Johnson got his commercial pilot’s license. (Steve Johnson via AP)

FILE - Buffalo Sabres center Kyle Criscuolo (51), right wing Tyler Randell (64) and Toronto Maple Leafs right wing Jeremy Bracco (59) battle for the puck during the second period of an NHL preseason hockey game in Buffalo, N.Y., in this Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018, file photo. Former minor league hockey player Ty Randell turned down a contract offer to pursue a career in firefighting. Randell went to firefighting school as part of the Professional Hockey Players Association’s career enhancement program. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus, File)

FILE - Saginaw Spirit goalie Jake Paterson, left, makes a save on Erie Otters' Brendan Gaunce in the first period of Game 2 of an Ontario Hockey League playoff game in Erie, Pa., in this Saturday, March 22, 2014, file photo. Goaltender Jake Paterson is studying to get his real estate license while also playing minor league hockey with the Allen Americans of the ECHL. Paterson joined the Professional Hockey Players Association’s career enhancement program last spring after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.(Jack Hanrahan/Erie Times-News via AP, File)