Bickell discusses career, MS and legacy in the Players’ Tribune

It only makes sense that former Blackhawks left winger Bryan Bickell titled his article in the Players’ Tribune “Grinder.”

From struggling with health issues during the 2015 Stanley Cup playoffs to stealing his lockermate Marian Hossa’s old knee brace after he tore his MCL, Bickell sustained a lot throughout his 10-year NHL career.

It all started in 2015; Bickell recalled feeling sluggish and brushed it off as “laziness.”

Despite prematurely leaving Game 5 of the 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs and fainting in the locker room, Bickell finished with “five assists, zero goals, and one really s—ty feeling inside my body.”

And he couldn’t celebrate the Blackhawks’ second Stanley Cup in three years for long. Bickell continued to hop from doctor-to-doctor, trying to figure out what was wrong with him.

“I started to lose control of my left arm and leg. They would move at random times, like they had a mind of their own. Or they wouldn’t respond to my brain when I tried to tell them what to do,” Bickell wrote.

“I was losing control over my own body, and it was really, really scary.”

A year and a half later, Bickell finally got to the bottom of his problem. He was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

Despite feeling discouraged, Bickell was able to return to the ice and scored off his last NHL shot.

At the end of the post, Bickell asks one thing from fans.

“When you remember the career of Bryan Bickell, I don’t want you to think about the guy with MS,” Bickell said.

“I want you to think about the guy who loved this game so much that he stole Hossa’s stinky knee brace so he could play with a torn MCL. I want you to think about the guy who worked for it, and stuck with it, and won at it. I want you to think about the guy who retired on his own terms — and then moved through his 30s and 40s, into his 50s and 60s, into his 70s and 80s, like he skated through his 20s. By grinding, one day at a time.”

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