Former NHL player Wade Belak dead at 35 –NHL News Update
Former National Hockey League (NHL) player and Nashville Predators forward, Wade Belak, died on Wednesday and was found dead at his home in Toronto becoming the third player to have passed away in between the last season and this year’s offseason.
NHL Commissioner, Gary Bettman, was one of the first to issue a statement after learning about Belak.
"The National Hockey League family mourns the passing of Wade Belak, who competed to the utmost every minute of his NHL career. Our hearts go out to Wade's loved ones, his friends, his former teammates and to all who feel the horrible void left by this tragedy",
Bettman said.
Belak was added to the list of Derek Boogaard of New York Rangers in May and Vancouver Canucks, Rick Rypien, both who were found dead in their respective homes and surprised the whole league. This also alerted the NHL which has now received much criticism
for not being able to treat players with depression related problems, the reason also speculated to having been the cause of Belak’s death.
"Everyone at the National Hockey League and the National Hockey League Players' Association is profoundly saddened by the loss, within a matter of a few weeks, of three young men, each of whom was in the prime of his life”, the NHLPA said in a statement.
Belak was a former 12th overall pick during round-one of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by Quebec Nordiques, but started off his career by playing for Colorado Avalanche. He continued his career by playing for teams like Calgary Flames, Toronto Maple
Leafs, and Florida Panthers and finally ended with Nashville Predators during the 2010-2011 season.
During his 14 season career, Belak was unable to truly find his game which led him to only scoring a total of 33 points (8 goals, 25 assists) in 549 games. He was mainly used for his physical style of play, something which can easily be observed by his 1,263
penalty minute career record.
While investigations are still underway in order to determine the exact cause of death, nothing can be said for sure on what really happened to the recently retired NHL enforcer.
Tags: