Wade Belak never had a concussion in his career.
Rick Rypien had suffered from depression dating back to his time with the Regina Pats. Maybe it stemmed from his girlfriend's death in a car accident on her way to a Pats game. Maybe it didn't.
Derek Boogaard was trying to wean himself off prescription painkillers when a lethal combination with alcohol claimed his life.
I can live with hockey without fighting and none of this is to say we shouldn't examine possible links between throwing punches and concussions and depression. More lives could be at stake.
It's for precisely that reason that we must, as a hockey fraternity, take the debate beyond fighting and take a hard look at what we can change to prevent another tragedy like the three we've encountered this summer.
Narrowing it down to fisticuffs allows the NHL and its players association to issue their sombre statements and continue to hide the mirror in the closet.
It's the easy way out. It's lazy and it means that these players, and others before them, died in vain. It denies them and their families exactly what they deserve: a full investigation of depression and mental health in sports.
It's time to get rid of the stigma. Depression can hit anyone and in some cases it doesn't seem to make any sense. Belak was a media star, a funny guy who appeared to have his life after hockey all mapped out. I still can't wrap my head around it. All that shows is he was one of the best at hiding the pain.
We build these players up and we tear them down. We jump down their throats for every mistake and brush it off with a glance at their salary.
We think all that money and fame erases the time away from family and the stress of trying to hang on and the toll of making the transition to a life without hockey.
Where is the support network for these players?
Even the most loving families must come to terms with the reality of professional hockey and sometimes all the phone calls and e-mails in the world aren't enough.
Fellow players aren't about to start asking teammates about their feelings in the dressing room.
The NHLPA has been too busy firing boardroom salvos and trying to put a head on the rest of the body to offer an avenue for players to vent.
We must also take a look at prescription painkillers. As former Flyers enforcer Riley Cote said last week, they are handed out like candy and they are far too easy to become addicted to.
The NHL does minimal testing for performance-enhancing drugs, but the league may be facing a drug problem of an entirely different nature.
Perhaps the league's substance abuse program can be expanded to include precautionary work with players trying to recover from serious injuries.
Another suggestion would be to re-examine the role of sports psychologists. Many teams employ them now, with a focus on getting players in a state where they can play at the top of their game.
Helping them enjoy a high quality of life away from the rink needs to be an equal priority.
I don't have all the solutions. None of us do. But it's long past time we started looking.
Josh Lewis can be reached at 634-2654, by e-mail at [email protected], on Twitter at twitter.com/joshlewis306 or on his Bruins blog at bruinbanter.blogspot.com. If all else fails, head over to Spectra Place.
