Daniel Carcillo makes impassioned plea for mental-health support in NHL

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NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Daniel Carcillo took the ice for warmups the morning of Feb. 15 for a matinee against the Penguins. He lasted five minutes. The news he had just learned — that one of his closest friends, former teammate Steve Montador, had died at the age of 35 — was too much to bear.

The loss of a friend was gutting. And the feeling that he — and everyone else — could have done more to help Montador was profound.

In a pointed video on the Players’ Tribune, Carcillo made an impassioned plea for more support for retiring players, and more awareness of the mental-health issues players face from concussions and the ends of their careers. The video was posted on Wednesday, in the midst of the Blackhawks’ first-round series with the Nashville Predators. Carcillo hasn’t played since suffering a concussion on March 25, but rejoined the team on the ice this week. A team spokesman said Carcillo told the Hawks ahead of time that he was doing the Players’ Tribune feature, and that “we certainly respected and supported his decision to do so.”

When Carcillo fell into what he called “a lull and a depression” after Montador’s death and his own concussion, he said teammates Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp were among the players who reached out to him and offered support.

“It meant a lot,” Carcillo said in the video. “To be in such a dark place emotionally and then to have them care. … When I think about that, a big reason I summoned the courage to do this, my hope is that it helps somebody and opens the right eyes, and people get in contact with our [players’ association] and get in touch with each other, and we can try to create something that’s going to help athletes figure out what they’re good at, and what they want to do next in life. I know Steve this past year was trying to figure that out. I wish he had. Because I think it would have eased his mind and I think if he had the right help, that he would still be here with us.”

Montador suffered a season-ending concussion during the 2011-12 season, and had his contract bought out by the Hawks after the 2013 campaign. In March of 2013, as he neared his return, he spoke candidly about the struggles he faced during his recovery. He said he battled depression, which his doctors told him was a physical symptom of the brain injury he had suffered.

Carcillo told the Players’ Tribune that some days Montador felt fine, and other days he had to stay in a dark room with the curtains drawn. The end of his career and the uncertainty of his future only made it worse.

“I know people talk about sports being a microcosm for life, and it’s very true that way.” Montador said in March of 2013. “I can see why people have a hard time with … being taken away from something they love to do. There’s a lot of uncertainty, a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety and depression. I’ve had a lot of help to work through that, and I feel like I’ve taken the right steps.” 

Carcillo, who said Montador helped him overcome pain-killer abuse after he recovered from surgeries in 2011, wants to see the NHLPA do more. He said he called retired players and asked if they knew what the NHLPA’s exit program was, and was “astonished” to find that nobody knew.

“Right now, as far as the PA goes, we would receive a phone call to see how we were doing, and that’s pretty much our exit program,” Carcillo said in the video. “From the guys I’ve talked to who’ve moved on, they’ve all said the same thing. They’ve all fell into kind of a deep depression and that they went away quietly. It was almost as if the less noise you make when you go away, the better. I don’t think it’s right. It doesn’t feel right for how much we give to this league and to this sport in regards to sacrificing our bodies, sacrificing our minds. The concussions, the hits we take.”

The NHL is currently fighting a lawsuit from retired players seeking a financial settlement for “the pathological and debilitating effects of brain injuries caused by concussive and sub-concussive impacts sustained … during their professional careers.”

Reached for comment about their “exit program,” an NHLPA spokesman pointed to the league- and PA-funded “BreakAway Program,” which works with the Ted Rogers School of Management in Toronto to develop customized programs, courses and career services for current and former NHL players.

Email: mlazerus@suntimes.com

Twitter: @marklazerus

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