Daniel Carcillo sees positive change after Steve Montador tribute
TAMPA — Daniel Carcillo lost his best friend in hockey this past February. Following the death of Steve Montador, the Chicago Blackhawks forward called for change using the platform created by The Players’ Tribune.
In the video, Carcillo spoke about his friend and encouraged players dealing with various issues to speak out and ask for help.
A month and a half later, Carcillo was at Stanley Cup Final Media Day on Tuesday and said he’s received responses not just from those in the hockey world, but other sports as well.
“I think it’s been pretty positive,” he said. “The NHLPA has come out and they’re already trying to change things and make it easier on us to transtition out. It’s been good. All the positive response, you can kind of see a little bit of a niche for it. There’s a want for it, otherwise you wouldn’t have the overwhelming response that we did get to it. It’s encouraging and hopefully we just try to improve the current situation and just make it better.”
Last month, Carcillo began the process of forming an nonprofit organziation to help guide athletes, called Chapter 5. According to ESPN Chicago, the Players’ Association has worked on creating a transition program for players over the last several years and will bring it up at their board meetings in June, with the intention of beginning it next season.
The world of sports isn’t an environment where athletes can be open and honest about the issues their dealing with, at least not yet, and that’s what Carcillo is hoping to change. He watched Montador deal with the effects of a concussion suffered during the 2013 season, but by then the former NHL defenseman was retired and had nowhere to turn. Carcillo, who dealt with a similar issue earlier this season, was with the Blackhawks and had outlets within the team
Carcillo’s video for The Players’ Tribune is hopefully the start of more players being willing to be open and reach out when help is needed.
“You’ve seen over the last year and a half, there’s a lot more guys that are wanting to talk about not so much the glamourous lifestyle but how it is quite a grind and the perception might be different to the regular public,” Carcillo said, “but we know what we have to do, and the time we spend away from our families and sacrifice we make for the game. Just guys coming out and being more personable and just being willing to speak about certain stuff that in the past could have been taboo.”
Deciding to shoot the video wasn’t easy for Carcillo. As much as he wanted to help other players, he was still grieving his friend. “I went to Steve’s funeral mid-February and I didn’t really have time to process it, you’re right back with the team,” he said. “So you really have to find the right channels and kind of help yourself and the league offers some of those channels and there’s been some help from them.”
After he read pieces on The Players’ Tribune from Scott Gomez and Pascal Dupuis, Carcillo felt comfortable going forward with the idea. Still, speaking on camera about Montador and calling for change was difficult, as you can see in the video; but going through with it, Carcillo said, providing him much-needed therapy as he mourned. “I kind of felt Steve was talking through me.”
Using the platform to let out his feelings about Montador and speaking candidly about his friend was a big first step. Carcillo said he hadn’t spoken about it with anyone, but the video was “something that needed to be said.” It was well-received and helped more than just himself. “It gets you out of your own head and it helps you to really have compassion,” he said. “It helps you move forward in the process.”
“I think if we create an atmosphere and a culture where you can come out and talk about these things and feel safe about it and use the right channels,” he said, “I think we’re going to help a lot more guys and a lot more guys are going to feel comfortable about speaking about the struggles instead of just staying inward and bringing it home.”
Within the Chicago Blackhawks Carcillo has those with whom he can reach out to, if they don’t reach out to him first. When he was sidelined with a concussion, teammates kept in constant contact with him, checking in to see how he was doing. The same thing is going on now with Michal Rozsival, who is done for the season after fracturing his ankle in Round 2.
Keeping the lines of communication open go a long way when a player is disconnected from the team for a period of time. As Carcillo can attest to, having make a world of difference in a player’s mentality.
“Just the one text, man, it’s amazing how far it goes.”
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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