Around The NHL: Rick Rypien Passes Away

Winnipeg Jets forward Rick Rypien was found dead in his Alberta home at age 27, according to multiple reports including TSN. Rypien, who had played his entire career with the Vancouver Canucks before signing with the Jets this past summer, scored 9 goals and had 7 assists with 226 penalty minutes in 119 NHL games. 

CH: This is just terrible, terrible news. This is the second death of the summer for the NHL, both of which fall in the enforcer category. I am sure that many will talk about the nature of fighting in the game and weather it should be kept or taken out. I think that is nonsense. Fighting has been part of the NHL game for years and is a staple of the culture of the league. Now, I don't agree with stage fighting, but that is another conversation for another time. But does anyone not enjoy a passionate, spur-of-the-moment fight between guys you would never expect to throw down?

I think what the NHL really needs to look at is how they can help players off the ice. The league has an outstanding substance abuse program, one in which Nashville forward Jordin Tootoo came out of as a huge success story, but with these recent tragedies it may not be enough. I don't have the answer here, so it's unfair for me to harshly criticize the league. And this is not the right forum to do it. But two deaths in two months is two too many, and it's something that as a person - let alone a hockey fan, that I never want to see happen. If anything, it's just a reminder of how important it is to take care of yourself and if you need help, seek it. My thoughts and prayers go out to the Rypien family, the Winnipeg Jets, the Vancouver Canucks, and the NHL as a whole.

AT: 100%, completely agreed with Carey here. The NHL needs to invest further in post-career health care access (I'm sure they have some form already) for those who have retired, and the league needs to monitor those players who are continuously taking shots to the head or seem on edge. These are not robots. They are human beings playing a professional sport who have every mistake come under criticism from local and national media outlets. Most remember what happened with Rypien and his interaction with a fan, and while we were all quick to jump on him for what he did (and rightly so), we tend to forget that this is a human being that we're talking about, and they have the same emotions and feelings we do sitting here blogging. When you insult us, we take offense, and so do most players. Some learn to grow a thick skin, but it's not as if Rypien was in the spotlight being a 4th line enforcer. Without having much media coverage on him and then having a spur of media coverage in a short time all being negative against you, for some that is difficult to cope. I hope that in the future the NHL takes a hard lesson from this and works actively with players to speak up when they feel less than normal.

My deepest prayers go out to the Rypien family, the Jets and Canucks communities and to anyone who ever enjoyed seeing Rypien both on the ice and off the ice.