[Article] "It was hard to go through": Ex-Canucks player opens up on mental health

[RWJC]

"It was hard to go through": Ex-Canucks player opens up on mental health

 

Noah Strang

Oct 19 2023

 

Former Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames forward Sven Baertschi opened up on the challenges of his NHL career for the first time since retiring from professional hockey in August.

 

The Swiss-born player played 292 NHL games, scoring 66 goals and 138 points during his career. He was drafted by the Flames with the 13th pick in the 2011 NHL Draft. He played 66 games with Calgary before being traded to the Canucks in 2015.

 

Unfortunately, Baertschi’s career was constantly plagued by injuries. The turning point was an incident that happened on October 24, 2018, in a game against the Vegas Golden Knights.

 

Baertschi took a blindside hit to the head in the second period and only played a few more shifts before he left the game. This would be the beginning of the end of his NHL career.

 

It’s well-documented how the forward then dealt with concussions, shoulder injuries, and neck pain. Something that was not as well-known which the forward shared was the mental health struggles that accompanied those issues. He shared some insights into those struggles during his appearance on CHEK Media’s Donnie & Dhali show today.

 

“It was hard to go through, not going to lie. There were some mental health issues that came along with it. Not easy to deal with but that’s part of it,” Baertschi said, choosing his words carefully. “After the hit in [Las] Vegas, I felt like I was depressed and that was like a new thing to me. I was dealing with a lot of anxiety issues and all that I had never had before. Like it shows up and it’s there and I don’t really know what to do with it.”
 

link to rest of article:

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/sven-baertschi-canucks-mental-health

 

[Viking_10]

Sven was on Donnie and Dhali and you could see his struggle talking about the game, it was hard to see him talk about it. But as someone who has had concussions and felt lost and still do at times it was hard to see but sounds like he has help for himself. I hope he focuses on his young family, that is what I am trying to do with my daughter as most days she is the one that makes life worth waking up for

[Steamer4GM]

40 minutes ago, Viking said:

 I hope he focuses on his young family, that is what I am trying to do with my daughter as most days she is the one that makes life worth waking up for

While not concussion related, I’ve battled similar challenges on and off throughout my adult life. My daughter (and now granddaughter with another grandchild due in February) has frequently been that one anchor to sanity and hope that got me through the worst and rewarded me with the best. 

[Pears]

Still annoys me to this day that hit he took went uncalled and unpunished. 

[Viking_10]

1 hour ago, Pears said:

Still annoys me to this day that hit he took went uncalled and unpunished. 

Yup, and we still lack the presence of a player or 2 who would make other teams think twice about doing that to one of our current players...We will never know what kind of career Sven could have had, but after watching is interview on Donnie & Dhali it hit me hard and I hope he has a great life with his family and if he stays in hockey going forward I wish him all the best and hope he pops up on shows like D & D so we can hear about what he is up too...

[JeremyCuddles]

It really is heartbreaking to know his career was cut so short cause of concussions. I hope his depression isn't also compounded with headaches and other lingering concussion related issues. Mental health is hard enough on it's own without constantly being in pain. I was a huge Baer fan, at one point it almost felt like he was my fav player on the team while he was here. Just wish him the best and hopefully he has the support around him to get through this.

[TheGuardian]

7 hours ago, RWJC said:

“It was hard to go through, not going to lie. There were some mental health issues that came along with it. Not easy to deal with but that’s part of it,” Baertschi said, choosing his words carefully. “After the hit in [Las] Vegas, I felt like I was depressed and that was like a new thing to me. I was dealing with a lot of anxiety issues and all that I had never had before. Like it shows up and it’s there and I don’t really know what to do with it.”

It isn't over either. 

[Slegr]

Hit by Tomas Hyka - a small Czech who only played a handful of games for the Knights. It didn’t look like much, and I can see how the refs missed it. 
My sense is that it wasn’t the first time Sven was concussed.