Daniel Carcillo acknowledges the fact that he's a thorn in the flesh of the NHL leaders.
Canadian forward ended his 10-season NHL career four years ago. Carcillo played for five different teams and won the Stanley Cup twice with the Chicago Blackhawks. What is remaining of the two Cup parties are the shady memories. As of now, there are far severe things on Carcillo's mind.
Anybody who has followed NHL even remotely close, remembers Carcillo's style of play. In 500 games, Carcillo collected over a thousand penalty minutes and picked up seven suspensions. In the same time, he dropped the gloves 100 times and as a result of his style of play, was documented with seven concussions.
In the NHL, Carcillo became known with quite a descriptive nickname, "Car Bomb". In the days of his junior hockey, Carcillo went through things that laid the ground for his aggressive playing style in the big league. A forward tells that he was sexually and verbally abused during his days at OHL. The abusive behavior, experienced at such a young age, stuck with him for more than a decade.
"Being verbally and sexually abused at that early age − it definitely doesn't help you to be emotionally responsible later in the NHL", said Carcillo. "Especially for me when I played the game, I used it as an emotional release. I looked back, talked to the veterans, talked to the rookies and they tell you stories about what really affected them. Bigger story and a bigger picture emerges that that's what the hockey culture was".
Carcillo hid these experiences for almost 15 years until some of the recent hazing incidents brought back the old memories. Looking back now, he considers some of his abusers as the victims of the environment they grew up in.
"You talk to the veterans and get a little piece of that those guys were already broken, young man. You know, not a lot of people are able to put their foot down to stop the cycle of abuse, so you kinda give them a little bit of forgiveness", said Carcillo. You wonder why I had the nickname "Car Bomb" and why I played the way I did, why I was so reckless − thinking back now, those experiences definitely played a part to it. I had a lot of anger, I obviously kept inside and it didn't really come out until I saw the stories about the hazing among the junior teams".
When Carcillo made it to the NHL level, he was able to escape the environment filled with hazing and bullying. In the world of NHL, rookie players were given two tasks.
"The only thing that happened when you get to the NHL level is the rookie dinner. You make a lot of money weekly and you spend $4000 for a dinner with your teammates. In addition that you might have to tell a few bad jokes, that's it. As long as there's no humiliation involved, I'm fine with that tradition", said Carcillo.
A new set of challenges in the NHL
In the NHL, Carcillo was introduced to another set of problems. Aggressive playing style took its toll. Carcillo was known as a firecracker, who didn't back down from a challenge − even if it came from the biggest guy on the visiting team.
During his 10-year career in the NHL, Carcillo suffered seven documented concussions. He wants to make sure that the people are aware of the different terms around the head injuries.
"I mean, documented means that it's on the paper, you had certain symptoms and you failed the impact test after you did the baseline test. Now concussion is different from a traumatic brain injury or a mild traumatic brain injury or severe traumatic brain injury. A concussion is the symptoms, traumatic brain injury is the actual event", said Carcillo. That's the actual event of your brain smashing in the rigid skull, your brain stem getting distorted. You receiving stick to the jaw, as they said your wires get crossed, that is a traumatic brain injury and that happens on average once every single game in the NHL".
"So that's why I try to stay away from the word 'concussion' and I try to continually use term traumatic brain injury because that is what the guys are sustaining night in and night out playing the game they love. We're not getting a proper understanding, proper diagnosis or care. There are proper diagnosis and care. There is care, not only for a concussion but also for a traumatic brain injury. But they refuse to give it to the guys".
By "they", Carcillo refers to the NHL. He wore the jerseys of five different NHL teams; Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers, Los Angeles Kings, New York Rangers and Chicago Blackhawks. None of the five teams had team doctors that were specialized in neurology. Carcillo, and other players, were treated by the team trainers, surgeons, and weigh-and-conditioning coaches. In the locker room and training rooms, the word "concussion" was hardly present.
"They rarely used the term concussion around you. No, I mean it's a joke. I have talked to the orthopedic surgeons that I used to work with and they shook my hand and said thanks for letting us know the situation. They did not want to be working with the players' heads because they didn't know what they were doing", said Carcillo. "They know how to replace your ACL, they know how to put you under the knife, that's their job. They have nothing to do with neurology. Neither does an athletic therapist or an athletic trainer or even a strength and conditioning coach."
"Look at Chicago, Mike Gapski and Paul Goodman have created something called GGT-test, something that NHL is actually looking to adopt, and they had zero input from the neurologists. That's scary. Just look at their concussion history and how many young men have passed away playing for the Blackhawks. Steve Montador, Bob Probert, and Ray Emery - and that's just the short list. It's just not right".
According to Carcillo, the team doctors' most important, and maybe an only job, is to make sure the players get back to the rink - as fast as possible. Sometimes, this was done with the help of scripts of powerful painkillers, instead of the proper care and treatment.
If you have your name etched on some Fucking trophy and you can't remember it or you got money and you can't enjoy your kids... who cares?"
"I always say this, sports medicine is called sports medicine for a reason. It's not called athlete medicine because they serve the sport. Fewer man-games lost, that's when the athletic trainer gets a pat on the back the end of the year. If you have a lot of man-games lost, he gets fired straight up", said Carcillo.
"If you want to do a little bit of research, look at the industrial medicine back in the '50s and 60's when they were building the railroad system and mining. It's the same thing, so if the worker gets hurt and asks too many questions, then he gets fired".
"So this is what I'm telling the guys who are still playing. First, you're playing the league that still does not acknowledge the link between repetitive head trauma and CTE − everybody else has. So what you need to do when you get hurt to make sure you won't get slapped with $170,000 worth of medical bills as I have in two years, you need to file for workers compensation cases.
"These teams pay for workers compensation insurances. But then again, you are filing against the entity that is paying you, guys are not aware of workers compensation insurance and the teams don't tell them that. It is still frowned upon on. But honestly, that is the only way you're gonna protect yourself because treatment costs money".
NHL protects its own image, not the health of its players
The conversation around fighting, head injuries and the length of the suspensions has gotten louder in the NHL over the past couple of years.
In the emails that were leaked to the public, the league leaders were having heated conversations about the league's need to sell the game with hate and violence. Carcillo thinks that NHL is protecting its own image, not the health of its own players.
"You always have to raise a red flag when you see NHL in front of anything. NHLPA, NHL Network, NHL on NBC, anything. Nothing gets done without NHL's approval. You have seen the emails, a TSN guy doing a poll about fighting or brain injuries and then he gets an email from Colin Campbell saying 'what the fuck are you doing?' What I'm doing and will continue to do is to stoke the fire".
Carcillo has indeed stoked the fire. He has received strong criticism about his tactics to share the awareness from former NHL-players, including Jeremy Roenick and Stu Grimson.
"I think some of his tactics are a little off or he could be doing it in a little more positive way. But you have to give him credit and respect him for sticking up for his beliefs and for the people he believes in", said Roenick in the interview with Chicago Sun-Times.
Carcillo honestly believes that the league isn't able to sustain the current situation for much longer. The NHL reached a settlement in a concussion lawsuit filed by more than 100 former players that blamed the league for concealing the long-term risks of head injuries. For Carcillo, a payment of $22,000 per player is insulting.
"I don't think they are going to be able to sustain for much longer, I really do think that way. As soon as Steve Montador's case goes to trial, I'm a witness on that case and I will be talking to the media every day at the courthouse. I don't think they are going to be able to sustain it", said Carcillo. "As goes for the current settlement right now, there are no big names involved in it. Some people think you have to have a "hall of fame" in front of your name to make a difference but I don't believe that."
"Take a look at Rick Vaive's case. He opted-in and opted-out two days later because the Toronto Maple Leafs talked him out of it since they obviously lean on the guy. I could have signed autographs and made six figures with the Blackhawks - and that's what I did for the first year - but I just couldn't keep doing that. My moral competence wouldn't allow me to do that. NHL controls the rhetoric, if you don't follow the line − you'll get fired".
The number of fights in the NHL has gone down from 2001-2002's 803 total fights to only 280 in the 2017-2018 season. Yet, around 15 percent of the games involve fighting and over 100 different players dropped the gloves a season ago. Carcillo fought 100 times during his NHL career and he has seen the damage that fighting with bare knuckles can do.
"NHL and AHL are the only leagues, in addition to indoor lacrosse, that allows their players to hit each other with bare knuckles − and that causes a lot of damage. I would say if they want to keep having the fighting in the game, people fighting should wear an extra glove under the gloves or something", said Carcillo.
"If you want to remove the enforcer role, step up and take the money away. That's all guys care about during the regular season, the money. When you get to the playoffs, you take the games away because you can't the money anymore. So there are few things that need to happen and one of the could be not having someone who started a clothing company called 'Make Hockey Violent Again', as the head of the player's safety department".
"Treatment for my last concussion in 2015 with the Blackhawks was a script of opioids and to go home to sit on a couch for as long as you feel symptom-free."
When asked if Carcillo would personally want to see fighting die away from the sport, two-time Stanley Cup champion has a clear answer and reasoning behind it.
"Personally, I would not like to see it in the game. I don't think the fighting helps anybody, I don't think people actually want to see it. You can sell the game of hockey with just on skill. I mean, the game is pretty fucking awesome and they have some darn skilled players in the league these days".
Proper diagnosis and proper treatment will go a long way
Carcillo devotes his passion and energy to share the awareness of proper diagnosis and proper treatment of head injuries. He has a foundation, "Chapter 5", that helps players that are suffering from head injuries and the side effects. If Carcillo would be in the position to implement changes to the NHL hockey, he would start by making the rink just a bit bigger.
"There are a couple of things that I would do. First, I would make the rinks bigger and the equipment lighter. You don't have to go IIHF but make them bigger. That is one way but for me, what is even more important, is to have proper diagnosis and care of these injuries. If you get proper treatment, you'll be able to go back and play, extend your career", said Carcillo.
"If not, we'll get situations like my good friend Steve Montador. He would tell these stories that he would have to call the car dealership once a day to find his car, after walking into Panera Bread for a lunch. So treatment, it works. Understanding is a big key too".
Even in 2019, proper care and treatment are not self-evident. Carcillo has the first-hand experience in how the NHL treats the head injuries.
"Treatment for my last concussion in 2015 with the Blackhawks was a script of opioids and to go home to sit on a couch for as long as you feel symptom-free. After a couple of weeks, you kinda realize that you might not feel symptom-free in a while and in order to get back to the rink, you have to lie".
There are proper treatment and care, and it works. Carcillo has spent time down in Florida at Plasticity Brain Center getting treatment for his own injuries. There are 52 neurologists in the US that have specialized in treating TBIs (traumatic brain injury). Dr. Ted Carrick, who has worked with Carcillo, has also worked with Sidney Crosby and Peyton Manning in the past.
Carcillo reminds that CTE and TBI aren't anything new. Big professional leagues have made it hard for the researches to get more information about the effects of repetitive head traumas.
"The first case of CTE was recorded in 1940 in boxing. What you then realize is that NHL and NFL actually suppressed the information from 1989 to 2003, with no additional studies done. This was of course because of the heightened popularity of both league's. They don't want the parents to know the risks of repetitive head traumas", said Carcillo.
"How are we supposed to listen to the 40 doctors, who are making the statements about CTE for example, when 30 of these doctors are paid by the three collision sports leagues (NHL, NFL and rugby). That's another mission, to expose these doctors".
35-year-old Canadian tells that he's only getting started. There will be much more to come in the upcoming months and years.
"Next, I'm going to film some stuff related to early dementia and Alzheimer's. That's the stuff we should show the current players. If you have your name etched on some fucking trophy and you can't remember it or you got money and you can't enjoy your kids... who cares?"
Dan Carcillo wants to tell you the truth.
Even if it's an inconvenient one.