How early can a player receive his pension?

alot

In the earliest olympic games, the games were much more dangerous, and the prizes for winning were respect and glory by all, and there were proabably some medals involved, though I cannot be too sure...

The players are paid first, so whenever the bank wire clears usually within a week

Sure. Millions do.Say you retired from company X and started getting retirement benefits. Then hired on at Company Y, later laid off. You get UI benes based on wages at Y, while still getting pension...

After playing 400 NHL regular season games, one can qualify for $80,000 per year for life.