Wade Belak, a former NHL player who most recently played for the Nashville Predators before retiring in the middle of the 2010-11 season, was found dead in a Toronto hotel room earlier today.

LFPress.com reports suicide as the cause of death, but nothing has been officially announced.

Belak is the third NHL player to die in the offseason. In May New York Rangers’ Derek Boorgaard died from an accidentally lethal mix of alcohol and oxycodone, and just over two weeks ago Winnipeg’s Rick Rypien committed suicide. All three men were enforcers, a very physical position that can cause a lot of head trauma and concussions, injuries which have recently been linked to a degenerative brain disease.

Very sad.

Megan Seling is The Stranger's managing editor. She mostly writes about hockey, snacks, and music. And sometimes her dog, Johnny Waffles.

10 replies on “RIP Wade Belak”

  1. I suspected it might be suicide when they said he was found in a hotel room and the cause of death was not suspicious. Yes, very sad.

    Rest In Peace, Wade.

  2. Sad. And you may see this as semantic bullshit, but I really don’t like the expression “commit suicide”. It’s too religious and judgmental. I much prefer “took his own life”.

  4. Dave Duerson, a safety for the ’85 Bears Super Bowl team, took his own life earlier this year, and reports said he was suffering from a neurodegenerative disease linked to concussions at the time of his death. The NHL and NFL really need to get a handle on this situation, or we’re going to have a lot more of these cases.

  6. Hey come on guys! This is all for our entertainment! The average NHL career is 3.5 seasons so these guys did better than average. Just so long as we are entertained. Naturally the NHL owners will be just like the NFL owners or the MLB owners were about PEDs – SHOCKED! DISMAYED! CONCERNED! Not enough to actually do something about the real problem, just enough to deal with the PR.

    Meanwhile theres this kid in Saskatoon – not much of a skater but man can he kick the shit out of people, gotta get him under contract. Just so long as we are all entertained . . .

  7. NHL Hockey is incredibly boring and at times, makes no sense, like how the ref allows two players to fight each other, only to decide to break it up 3 minutes later and penalize them, if it was against the rules to fight each other, then why allow it to go on for 3 minutes?.

    I’ll never attend a Thunder Birds game based on the fans at the last one (fucking faggit! goalie is a fucking fag! What you gonna do now faggot!!?), both my wife and are were embarrassed to see fans (some were kids) act like this at the Mercer Street Arena.

    http://www.wired.com/playbook/2011/02/du…

    http://blog.zap2it.com/pop2it/2010/07/me…

    http://www.mjbsportsnetwork.com/2011/07/…

    But I guess if its not a real sport, it doesnt deserve any attention on SLOG.

  8. I agree that something(s) should be done to combat head injuries and potential degenerative neurological conditions caused by the intensely physical play of the NHL. However, all indications are that this was not an issue with Rypien. Rypien did not have a history of concussions, but he did have a long history of depression. In fact he took most of last season off to deal with his depression. I think it’s harmful to gloss over Rypien’s personal depression issues and talk instead about brain trauma from which there is no evidence he suffered.
    The NHL needs to address brain trauma. Hits to the head, better helmets, concussions, etc all need to be discussed and the game needs to change for the players.
    Depression, particularly clinical, chronic depression, also needs to be addressed. It should be addressed by the public because it is a lethal condition. Even if it’s only lethal by your own hand.
    Please don’t sweep Rypien’s depression under the rug so that we can have a discussion about brain trauma in athletes. It does a disservice to all.

  9. Just sucks. Sounds like Belak was a friendly guy with a future in media and no reason to hurt himself. The NHL and NHLPA need to do more to help their players. And something’s got to be done about these head injuries. I love hockey fights but maybe their time has passed.

  10. @9, you may be right about fights being passed their time. Belak is leaving behind 7- and 5-year-old daughters. It’s really sad and follows the loss of Rick Rypien. Add to it, the ridiculous Vancouver riots, and maybe it’s time for a serious look at the state of the game.

    Oh, and fuck you @7.

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