Robin Lehner is calling on hockey players to step up after Kyle Beach came forward publicly about his alleged sexual assault by a former Chicago Blackhawks video coach.

"I just want more players to, whatever it is, take a stand. Because we, as players, we can bring change as much as anyone else," the Vegas Golden Knights goaltender said Tuesday night when asked if he feels he's carrying the weight of player advocacy.

"Again, it's difficult for me and I wish more people (step) up and fight, because it's for hopefully my kids, a lot of players' kids, we want them to succeed and play in this league. We want hockey and the NHL to be as good as possible."

Lehner has been an advocate for mental health awareness since he went public in 2018 about his experiences with bipolar disorder and addiction. The 30-year-old said he reached out to Beach last week and had a conversation with him.

Lehner, who was in talks with the NHL and NHLPA earlier in October to discuss changes to the league's approach to mental health, doesn't expect instant change.

"There's a process to it. It's not something that happens in a day. Recognizing you have a problem and then move on from there and try to pinpoint what can be done and, you know, to be honest, I had a lot of great talks with both NHLPA and the NHL before this all came to light with other things, and ... we can all do better," Lehner said.

"I'm not finger-pointing at anyone. I just want the new generation of players to have the safety around them to get help if they have an issue, whatever it might be, and, obviously, hopefully nothing like this ever happens again."

Lehner said stars often aren't as aware of potential issues as lesser-known players, but they're all responsible for educating themselves.

"I try to explain to people that fringe players - the third-liners, fourth-liners, guys that go up and down - it's been very different treatment in my experience through my, I think it's my 12th season now, what I've seen and what, say, star players get," Lehner said.

He added: "But sometimes it's unfair to put on the star players too, that they don't speak up enough, because to be quite honest, from what I've seen, they don't see a lot of the things that need to change. They get different treatment. I encourage everyone to talk to each other and have conversations. ... If we talk about culture or whatever, it needs to come from the players, honestly. Everyone needs to talk about it."

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