Dan Carcillo Announces Retirement Through Powerful Blog Post
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The former Philadelphia Flyers forward Dan Carcillo announced his retirement on Thursday via a powerful piece for Derek Jeter's The Players Tribune.
Carcillo announced he will focus on helping athletes transition from the ice, the court or the field, to normal life.
"Today, I'm retiring from the National Hockey League," Carcillo wrote. "My immediate goal is to help athletes transition to the next phase of their life — whether it's continuing education, finding internships with companies, or networking with other athletes who are dealing with the same issues. My mission is to help guys who are dealing with anxiety, depression, and uncertainty about their future. Not down the line, not next week, but right now."
Carcillo lost his friend and former teammate with the Chicago Blackhawks Steve Montador, who passed away at the age of 35 in February. Studies show Montador dealt with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease caused by concussions.
Carcillo posted this emotional video back in April, which he wrote about on Thursday.
"In April, when I decided to sit down and talk about how Monty and many other players have struggled to transition to life outside of hockey, I was nervous about how it would be received," Carcillo wrote. "The unspoken sentiment is that you don't talk about this kind of stuff in the hockey world. It can be seen as a "distraction." When I reached out to my teammates on the Blackhawks to tell them what I was doing, I was really surprised by the reaction. They couldn't have been more supportive. After the video came out, I had a number of current and former NHL players reach out to me to say that they're struggling with the same issues."
Carcillo, 30, spent 11 seasons in the NHL including three with the Flyers (2008-11).
Here is one of Carcillo's most memorable moments as a Flyer, an overtime goal to defeat the New Jersey Devils in game three of the 2010 first-round playoff series.
