» Ex-NHL enforcer had ‘severe’ CTE before committing suicide

Article content

The family of Chris Simon has revealed the former NHL tough guy was suffering from “severe” CTE when he took his own life last year.

Article content

Article content

Article content

The Simon family released the findings of a post-mortem brain tissue analysis taken from the 15-year NHL veteran, who committed suicide in March 2024 at the age of 52.

They hope to raise awareness of the need for medical and mental health resources to be made available to former athletes struggling with the long-term effects of repetitive head impacts.

Simon’s family donated his brain to the UNITE Brain Bank at the Boston University CTE Center, where Dr. Ann McKee diagnosed Simon with stage 3 (of 4) chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

Play Video

“Mr. Simon had severe CTE pathology in areas of the brain involved with cognition and mood regulation, and it is likely CTE contributed to his memory problems, depression and apathy,” said McKee, chief of neuropathology for the VA Boston Healthcare System and director of the Boston University CTE Center and UNITE Brain Bank. “Individuals with a significant history of repetitive head impacts in sports who report these symptoms need to be taken seriously, and our team is committed to providing them the care they need while also continuing to advance CTE research.”

Article content

Article content

According to the Concussion Legacy Foundation, 19 of 20 NHL players studied at the Boston University CTE Center, including Simon, have been found to have had CTE.

Included in those former players are Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Bob Probert and Derek Boogaard.

A study released in December showed that the odds of developing CTE increased by 34% for each year of hockey played.

CLF CEO Dr. Chris Nowinski addressed the latest finding while taking aim at commissioner Gary Bettman and the NHL’s lack of acknowledgement of the link between playing in the NHL and developing CTE.

“With each new diagnosis of CTE in a former NHL player, the NHL’s lack of leadership on this issue becomes more intolerable,” Nowinski said.

“Yet their denial strengthens our resolve to support the hockey community through our free HelpLine and advance research focused on diagnosing CTE during life and developing effective treatments.”

Article content

Simon’s family issued a statement detailing the former player’s struggles towards the end of his life.

“Chris was suffering tremendously from CTE. We saw him declining but did not know where to turn to for help,” the statement read. “Chris’ short term memory issues were ongoing for many years. We also learned that he had lost most of his hearing, had daily headaches, light sensitivity, paranoia, was easily frustrated with tasks, had extreme anxiety.”

The statement added that Simon likely began suffering the effects of CTE in his late 20s.

“This has been extremely difficult on us, as the Chris we knew had been gone for quite some time,” the family said. “Looking back, we now realize that Chris likely started suffering from CTE in his late 20s to early 30s. Our entire family suffered for many years as we saw our son, brother, father, husband slip away from us and we couldn’t do anything to help him.”

Simon was a well-known and well-travelled enforcer. He played for seven different teams during his NHL career and fought more than 100 times while racking up about 1,824 penalty minutes.

Article content