It's a sad day in the hockey world. Winnipeg Jets tough guy Rick Rypien was found dead in his Crownsnest Pass, Alberta home by Royal Canadian Mounted Police on Monday. Rypien, 27, just signed a one-year contract worth $700,000 with the Winnipeg Jets in July as he played 4 years with the Vancouver Canucks' AHL affiliate the Manitoba Moose. According to various reports, RCMP officials confirmed that the death was not of any suspicious nature. The cause is unknown as there has yet to be an autopsy.
Rypien, who was popular with fans and in the lockeroom wherever he played, spent his entire six-year NHL career with the Canucks, totaling 226 penalty minutes as well as 16 points in 119 games. He was limited to just 31 penalty minutes and 1 assist in nine game this past season due to a leave of absence (personal reasons). This was one of a two separate leave of absence's in 3 years that the Canucks granted Rypien, as it was widely speculated it was related to mental health issues. Last year Rypien was most remembered for an incident with a fan on October 19, 2010, where after being ejected he pushed a linesman as he headed into the tunnel, following Rypien reaching into the stands and grabbing a fan by the chest. He was suspended for six games and the Canucks were fined $25,000.
This news comes as even more shocking due to the recent death of another notable NHL tough guy Derek Boogaard (28 years-old). Boogaard also spent 6 years in the NHL racking up 589 penalty minutes in 277 career games. He was found dead in his Minneapolis apartment by family members, later noting the cause of his death being the combination oxycodone and alcohol. On July 22, 2011, Derek's brother Aaron was charged with the unlawful distribution of a controlled substance for providing Derek with a narcotic pain reliever, merely one day after he had been released from a drug rehabilitation facility.
Boogaard's family agreed to donate his brain to the Sports Legacy Institute as well as Boston University Medical School who study various athlete's brains in high-contact sports, especially regarding the brain condition called chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It is believed that the same will be done with Rypien.
