The National Hockey League (NHL) has teamed up with a veterans service organization to help struggling former military members and their families.

Through a partnership with ForgiveCo, the NHL will erase $1.25 million of debt, dropping a lifeline to 1,025 veteran families.

On Tuesday, during Game 5 of a first-round Stanley Cup Playoffs series against the Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars, forward Jason Robertson of the Stars hosted former Army Specialist Cesar Gonzalez and his family at American Airlines Center in Dallas. Gonzalez is one of many veterans seeing their debt washed away through the program.

Out of the $1.25 million debt being eliminated, $250,000 will go to veterans in the Dallas, Texas area.

Robertson is no stranger to helping veterans.

The left wing, 26, spotlights the bravery and sacrifice of military families through his program “JR’s Heroes,” funded by the Dallas Stars Foundation. Through the program, the Stars provide premium game tickets and a post-game meeting with Robertson for families of active-duty military members, especially those with family members serving overseas.


Founded in 2021, ForgiveCo has helped thousands of people in the U.S. eliminate crippling financial burdens by buying large portfolios of debt for a small percentage of the original cost. The NHL pitched in with a contribution to help ForgiveCo erase $1.25 million of debt for veterans and their families, while eliminating collection documentation on the veteran’s credit report.

Craig Antico, CEO and co-founder of ForgiveCo, said veterans can sometimes face financial challenges, especially while transitioning out of the military.

“Managing debt during major life transitions, whether it’s moving from active duty to civilian life, relocating, or navigating family changes, is inherently stressful because fixed financial obligations often collide with unpredictable personal circumstances,” Antico said in a press release. “For years, we have collaborated with brand partners to lighten the debt burden and provide hardship relief for Americans. This partnership is especially significant because it supports veterans, individuals who have sacrificed so much in service to our country, by addressing their medical and financial debt. Wiping away even a single debt can make a profound difference during an already challenging transition.”

Right-to-repair proponents remain cautiously optimistic that the final version of the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will allow military service members to have more control, therefore improving national security while simultaneously saving American taxpayers a lot of money.

This year's major defense legislation is still in the drafting stages, though right-to-repair provisions were included Thursday as part of a bipartisan amendment approved by the House Armed Services Committee (HASC). However, those who want right-to-repair included in the final version are pushing hard considering that similar actions occurred as part of the Fiscal Year 2026 NDAA negotiation process but were ultimately stripped when the final bill was adopted.

Current law allows for contracts that often force the military’s highly capable service members to rely on contracting personnel to repair equipment, which critics claim bloat costs, cause major product delays, give a financial advantage to defense contractors, and puts the financial onus on U.S. taxpayers who collectively subsidize national defense.

"It was great to see right-to-repair provisions be included as an amendment during the House Armed Services Committee's markup," Virginia Burger, senior defense policy analyst at the government watchdog POGO, told Military.com. "Allowing the military the right to repair its own equipment is common sense: it benefits taxpayers, service members, and the country’s national security as a whole."

Battle-damaged U.S. warships could not be quickly repaired and returned to combat during a war with China, according to a new report.

U.S. maintenance facilities would be overwhelmed and would lack sufficient spare parts to repair ships in theater, concluded the study by RAND, a Washington-based think tank. Nor can the U.S. Navy assume that its Pacific allies have adequate shipyard capacity — or political willingness — to fix damaged vessels.

The U.S. Navy has struggled with overworked ships and crews, as well as overburdened shipyards and repair depots. But a war with China, which has the world’s largest navy, would almost certainly result in American ships being hit by everything from ballistic “carrier-killer” missiles, to hypersonic weapons and torpedoes, the study says.

“The Navy has not faced damage at the level likely to occur in a major war since World War II,” warned RAND.

The study recommended that command-and-control authority for repair work be streamlined, including prior agreements with allied nations regarding access to facilities. It also urged the U.S. Navy to expand its mobile repair capabilities, including “deployable repair teams, flyaway assessment units, and scalable Expeditionary Mobile Repair Facilities.”

RAND’s analysis was based on a tabletop wargame conducted in August 2025. The setting was a hypothetical war with China, as U.S. ships race to defend Taiwan from invasion or blockade. The American vessels in question were Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, the backbone of the U.S. surface fleet.

The U.S. Navy will need every ship it can get, including damaged vessels patched up and rejoining the fight. However, “existing Navy systems for battle-damage repair are burdened by a variety of inefficiencies that hinder the Navy’s capacity for responding to widespread battle damage,” the study warned.

Analysts also found that “attempting repairs in a hostile Indo-Pacific environment will be significantly more complex than existing plans allow. This complexity creates serious risks to U.S. and allied rapid force regeneration and maritime dominance.”

Meanwhile, Chinese ships would be operating close to their home bases and repair facilities.