TAMPA, Fla. In a perfect world, Daniel Carcillo wouldnt have been talking about it.
He was sitting at a table during the Chicago Blackhawks media day se sion, though, doing his job, and he hasnt played enough hockey lately to talk about that instead. As media swarmed his teammates with question after question about Jonathan Toews' leadership and Duncan Keith's stamina, Carcillo hung tight, answeringquestion after question about the death of hisfriend, Steve Montador Anthony Munoz Jersey , and the action he took in its wake.
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Carcillo wants a support system in place for players once their careers end, and he called for that in a video/eulogy for the Players Tribune. It was eloquent in spots, silent in others and emotional throughout. In short, it did exactly what Carcillo hoped it would.
I wasnt expecting it to be that big, but yeah, its definitely been pretty amazing, Carcillo told Sporting News.
Mothers reaching out with young kids whove had concu sions i sues or depre sion; charities, or baseball guys, NFL guys reaching out; charities that theyre aligned with reaching out in the Chicago area.
Thats the sort of help Montador needed, and the sort of help he wanted to Andy Dalton Jersey provide before he was found dead in his home in March. He was 35 years old.
He was just such a deep guy. He knew what he wanted to do next and he knew he wanted to do something big. (A standard post-playing career) wasnt really gong to cut it. He was just searching for that, Carcillo said.
No foul play was suspected in Montadors death, and an autopsy revealed that the defenseman, who hadnt played since the 2012-13 lockout and dealt with several concu sions during his career, had a widespread presence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy throughout his brain.
(It) brings some small sense of explanation as to why these things (depre sion, memory lo s, vertigo, nausea and insomnia among them) were happening to him and that he had no control over them, Montadors father Paul told the Chicago Tribune.
The concu sions "had significant impact in terms of memory lo s, thinking, decision-making all kinds of things that were difficult for him near the end of his life," Paul Montador said. "He would forget things within minutes.
"And he knew it. He realized it. He was trying to relate it to the concu sions or depre sion or whatever was causing those things.
Hed done that in conversations with Carcillo when they both joined the Blackhawks in 2011; both had given up drinking, Carcillo said, and Adam Jones Jersey helped keep each other in line. The friendship grew from there and if youve seen the video, you know it grew deep.
And then, one part of it ended.
A cla s-action lawsuit by about 30 ex-players, nece sary as it is, has further politicized the brain-trauma i sue in the NHL. One result of that: the lawyer-speak answer from commi sioner Gary Bettman at the United Center during the Western Conference finals. Asked about Montadors brain, Bettman noted that theres no evidence yet that (concu sions) nece sarily leads to (CTE).
Hes semantically correct, at least for now and semantics loom large when untold millions are at stake. Bettman, ugly as it can be, has to consider that. He is.
Players dont, though. Friends dont. Just like he and Montador looked after each other, Carcillo wants to play a leading role in looking after other playerswhen their careers end. He's in the proce s of starting a non-profit, called Chapter 5, designed at giving ex-NHL players the help they may need when it Mark Walton Jersey 's time to live the rest of their lives.
Just kind of another avenue, you know?" Carcillo said. "Everybody is different. Everybody needs different things, and one fit is not nece sarily good for another guy.
The first step toward that was the Players' Tribune video. Carcillo had seen the positive response to pieces by Scott Gomez and Pascal Dupuis, written in the firstperson with help from the website's editorial staff, and realized it was the right medium.
I mentioned Hey, I want to do something to remember my friend, and also bring awarene s to the fact (that) after we move on there needs to be more done," Carcillo said.
"I can sit here all day until Im blue in the face and talk about it.
On Tuesday, he came close, and he didn't need to do any more.
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