The last person anyone should feel sorry for, it would seem, is Gene Carr.

Carr played in the NHL from 1971-79 with the New York Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins and Atlanta Flames. He was, as Avalanche television color man Peter McNab will attest, one of the greatest pure skaters of his era.

“Unbelievable,” McNab said. “He just flew around the ice.”

When he played with the Kings, from 1973-78, Carr literally was the team’s new golden child. With his curly blond hair, Carr looked like a stand-in for a Beach Boys member, except it was a singer from another band who would immortalize him.

Carr befriended Glenn Frey, who along with J.D. Souther penned the 1976 hit song “New Kid in Town” in honor of him.

“There’s a new kid in town, everybody’s talkin’…”

That was 38 years ago. Now, Carr is in a wheelchair because of injuries to his spinal cord. But like most hockey players, Carr doesn’t want to complain. The hockey way is to suck it up, to never show ’em that it hurts.

But for many players who played in the era when much of their pension money was looted away by convicted felon Alan Eagleson, a former NHL Players’ Association president, the pain of life is all too real.

A lot of them, including Carr, don’t have a good pension or good health insurance. Carr is the first to tell you he made some mistakes in life — too many divorces, other bad financial decisions — but his injuries are from playing hockey. He would like some help from the hockey establishment, but here’s where the problem comes in.

While players now enjoy much-improved pensions, thanks to the most recent collective bargaining, and benefits for “senior retired players” also have improved (a total of $6 million per year, with half coming from the Players’ Association and half from the league), players such as Carr remain frustrated by what they feel is neglect from those who are supposed to be on their side.

Case in point: Carr says he recently was turned down for a financial request to the NHL Emergency Player Assistance Fund, which collects forfeited money from suspended players and distributes it to players in need. This season, about $1.6 million has been collected by the fund from player fines and suspensions.

Carr received some financial assistance in the past from the fund, which is administered by longtime NHL executive Brian O’Neill and by a handful of NHLPA members. But Carr isn’t quite sure why he received a “no” to his request — made as part of a cumbersome application process that requires bank statements and the like.

Carr and a growing number of former players also are upset with the NHL Alumni Association, headed in Toronto by former player Mark Napier, for what they say is a lack of communication and lack of advocacy on their behalf. It’s too much of a buddy system as to who gets what, they say, with a lack of transparency. (Napier said he recently responded to members’ concerns in a newsletter. O’Neill couldn’t be reached for comment.)

“A lot of guys have their backs to a wall, and often the only thing left is to reach out to the Players’ Association and try to get some help,” said Carr, who lives in California and has Medicare through the state. “I wanted to get a stem-cell surgery on my back that cost $30,000 and isn’t done in the U.S. or Canada. That could be my last hope to walk again. I offered to pay the money back. But they said that didn’t fall into their parameters.”

Kurt Walker said this is a common tale among qualified former players, which number about 3,400.

“Pre-1985 players don’t have any significant pension, or medical from the NHL or NHL Alumni. It’s nonexistent,” said Walker, a former player who’s trying to raise awareness of the myriad issues facing brethren of his era.

“When an issue presents itself,” he said, “there is confusion about where to go for help. We should have the option to sign on to a medical plan that we can pay for should we need the assistance. Given the fact the NHL just signed a $5.2 billion network TV deal, to help us facilitate a plan should not be difficult.”

Adrian Dater: adater @denverpost.com or twitter.com/adater