“I’ll be straightforward with it Rick and not duck it. I’ll give a little background on why I take this position. To me, it’s time to have the hard conversation with Filip Chytil that he may have to retire and he may need to think about another profession and that’s a hard conversation to have.” Button said.
He added, “I was in Calgary with Brad Werenka and when he had his last shift, it was the cumulative effect of the previous concussions. It was a really innocent type of play, Brad was spinning off a hit, his head hit the glass and it was the last time he played in the NHL. He was 18 months where literally he was in a dark place. Like, his wife couldn’t leave him alone with the kids, she had to bring in a babysitter. The great story is, Brad got to the right side of it and he ended up going to law school, he’s a practicing lawyer in Calgary and that’s a great thing.
The second one, and it doesn’t have nearly as nice of an ending, is Steve Montador. We signed Stevie in Calgary, I loved Stevie, I talked to Stevie two days before he passed away and he was somebody who was always trying to find to get on the right side of it and he was never able to do that.
And that’s why, for me, I would be sitting down with Filip Chytil, representatives, his family and say ‘You have to think about this’ because the next one could be the one that’s devastating.”