Quality of adjustment to athletic career retirement is dependent, in part, on athletic identity salience, or the degree to which one defines themself in the athlete role. Researchers, however, have seldom explored how athlete identities are shaped and reshaped by organizations and managers prior to retirement. Consequently, the purpose of this study was to examine identity regulation in the North American field of men's professional ice hockey. Results from the study indicate that managers regulated a bipartite athletic identity, defined by performance excellence and beneficence; a largely self-directed, non-sporting alternative; and a nascent merger between the two. Further, regulation was found to limit individual development and, in turn, preparation for athletic career retirement. In an effort to assist athletes in developing identities that are more conducive to retirement and individual long-term well-being, the author suggests that organizations and managers in professional ice hockey challenge and reform extant practices and modes of regulation.

适应体育职业退休的质量部分取决于体育身份的显着性，或者取决于人们在运动员角色中的自我定义程度。然而，研究人员很少探索组织和经理在退休之前如何塑造和重塑运动员的身份。因此，本研究的目的是研究北美男子职业冰球运动中的身份规则。研究结果表明，管理者调节了两人的运动身份，这由卓越的绩效和仁慈来定义；在很大程度上是自我指导的，非运动的选择；以及两者之间的新生合并。此外，发现监管限制了个人发展，进而限制了体育职业退休的准备。