Chris Kreider considers himself extremely lucky to have had hand-me-down equipment from family and friends in the early days of his hockey career.

Anybody who had older brothers would lend Kreider skates, padding and other equipment for him to participate in youth leagues.

Not everybody is as fortunate, and that is not lost on Kreider.

“I was fully aware of how expensive it was to play that sport and the kind of time and sacrifice it takes to play that sport,” Kreider said at the Shoulder Check Showcase charity event in Stamford, Conn., earlier this month.

“The barrier to entry can be a little higher. Just walking into a pro shop now in the offseason and seeing what equipment costs is a bit jarring. Inflation is a real thing. We kind of have to acknowledge that I don’t know if I could’ve played if the price was like that when I first started out.

“Makes me very grateful and appreciative of everything my parents did and all the people that gave us hand-me-down skates. At the same time, like I said, the barrier to entry can be very high for this sport. We talk about ‘everyone can play,’ everyone can play, but you need the equipment, right? It’s the first step.”

The longest-tenured Ranger recently joined the NHL’s and NHL Players Association’s Player Inclusion Coalition, a group of current and former NHL players and women’s professional players who will work to “advance equality and inclusion in the sport of hockey on and off the ice.”

The 20-member coalition, co-chaired by Anson Carter and PK Subban, also features former Rangers Ryan Reaves and Kevin Shattenkirk.

More than $1 million has been dedicated to support the coalition’s programs through contributions to grassroots organizations, player-perspective storytelling and other special projects, according to a June press release.

“It’s been a very interesting experience,” Kreider said of joining the coalition. “Kind of sitting back and trying to listen and learn a lot. I think it’s a great thing that the union’s done. …

“There’s a lot of room for growth within our sport, within our league. I think everyone acknowledges that. The first big step is having those conversations.”

Kreider chose Ice Hockey in Harlem — an organization that offers ice hockey and off-ice programming that exposes young people in Harlem to experiences that prepare them for their future — to receive a $5,000 grant from the NHL Player Inclusion Coalition Action Fund.

Kreider has worked with Ice Hockey in Harlem for most of his career.

“Something I’ve been lucky to get involved with through the [Garden of Dreams Foundation], so I think that was an easy [choice] for me,” he said.

The formation of the coalition began in the summer of 2020, when the police killing of George Floyd sparked a worldwide movement advocating for racial justice and spilled into the sports world as athletes made demonstrations.

The Coalition’s official debut came on the heels of a dramatic 2022-23 season in which there were several controversial incidents surrounding Pride Night celebrations around the league.

A handful of players and certain teams refused to wear rainbow-colored jerseys for warmups as they had in the past, which took away from the purpose of the event and prompted the league this offseason to nix all plans for teams to wear any themed uniforms going forward.

Former Flames player Akim Aliu and several other current NHLers created their own initiative, the Hockey Diversity Alliance, in June 2020.

The major difference between that program and the one Kreider joined appears to be the backing of the NHL and NHLPA.

Early last month, the Hockey Diversity Alliance released a scathing statement calling out the league for forming its own inclusion committee despite the organization’s prior existence.

Bleacher Report did a fun segment with the NHL players who participated in the Shoulder Check Showcase charity event. Each guy was asked who he would not want to get hit by.

The overall consensus?

Rangers captain Jacob Trouba.

Recently I asked for questions on my Texts from the Blue Seats text-message conversation with Sports+ members (join here). Here are the answers to some leftover questions:

Do you think Rangers head coach Peter Laviolette will be able to help Alexis Lafreniere reach his potential or is the logjam at left wing too big an obstacle?
— Patricia Tamburello

The hope is always that a coach will be able to get the most out of a player, but it always will be up to the player to figure it out.

I think Laviolette will be a breath of fresh air, just like Gerard Gallant was when he first came in. One of the major differences between the two, however, is Laviolette’s approach to inciting hard work from his team.

Lafreniere could respond well under such circumstances, or it could be much of the same that we saw under David Quinn and Gallant.

The logjam on the left side and on the power-play front are obstacles to Lafreniere no matter what.

It is on the 2020 first-overall pick to make it work, whether it be committing to a transition to the right side — which Lafreniere has repeatedly said isn’t an issue for him — or demanding minutes with the man-advantage. There hasn’t been enough of that in the few opportunities Lafreniere has received.

Why does the NHL continue with the absurd “lower body/upper body” charade to describe injuries? It’s the only major [sport] that does that. You would think that with the new gambling connection the league has, the books would demand more info.
— Doug Sutherland

You would think, right? My understanding is it is a preference of the teams, NHLPA and players in general. Having more secrecy around the injury prevents it becoming a well-known weak spot for the competition.

Sure, it’s frustrating. Especially as someone whose job it is to provide detail, the lack thereof makes it incredibly difficult to write about. I’ve gotten used to it at this point, but there are teams that do not disclose any sort of detail about player’s injuries, and that’s where it becomes a problem, in my opinion.

Injuries happen. Players have to miss time. There really is no reason to be shady about it. Of course, it’s difficult for the organizations to gauge timelines and things of that nature, but it’s really easy to give a day-to-day, week-to-week or month-to-month prognosis to give fans and media a general idea of the situation.