The Derek Boogaard story continues to get sadder and sadder as more information is released following the Gentle Giant's passing. Elizabeth Merrill at ESPN New York takes us inside Derek's life while he was living in Manhattan and it's become clear that he was dealing with more than just concussions, but depression and loneliness as well.....
The New York Rangers signed his checks, but the Canadian's heart was always in the Twin Cities. In Manhattan, he could walk around for six hours and nobody recognized him. He hated that, the isolation he felt after he had signed with the Rangers this past summer. People close to Boogaard say he was bored and lonely in New York. When he suffered a season-ending concussion in December, things got even worse. He didn't leave his apartment for three weeks, shunning the light, and had containers of takeout food piling up on the counters.
Merrill also wrote about the after effects the concussion had on Derek's life...
In the months that followed, Boogaard wore sunglasses nearly everywhere because of light-sensitivity issues. He would become ill in the back of cars, his world spinning. Devin Wilson, a former junior hockey teammate who was his roommate in New York, said Boogaard would hold his head in agony during those dizzy spells and ask the cab driver to stop. Then they'd walk dozens of blocks, sometimes uphill, to reach his apartment on Manhattan's West Side.
And lastly, for the first time we get insight as to what went on in Boogaard's last few hours on earth...
He drank Bud Lights and smiled for pictures on cellphones at Sneaky Pete's. At this particular watering hole -- one of Boogaard's favorites -- only three plastic action figures sit atop the bar, near the Hennessy. Brett Favre, Adrian Peterson and Derek Boogaard. And Boogaard didn't even play for the Wild anymore. Caught up in all the love, he planted a playful kiss on the cheek of a buddy. Boogaard, a GQ-looking 28-year-old who was the NHL's most feared enforcer, never worried about his masculinity. On this night, he wasn't really worried about anything.
Between swigs of beer, he went on about the future for hours. He would train the hardest he had ever trained; he'd lift in the morning and take jujitsu classes at night. He would prove to the Rangers, who had signed him to a $6.5 million contract, that he was worth every penny. He had so many plans.
In the short term, he was going to pal around with his brothers the next day. Ryan, a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, was flying in Friday. Derek loved it when the Boogaard boys were all together. Then at some point, he was going to hang out with former Wild teammate Brent Burns' wife. He was super tight with Burnsy, whose wife is pregnant and on bed rest.
Thursday turned into Friday, tomorrow turned into today, and roughly around 3:30 a.m., Boogaard returned to his apartment, which is less than a mile from Sneaky Pete's, closed his eyes and turned in for the night. Sometime in the next few hours, Derek Boogaard died.
Boogaard's determined cause of death was an accidental mixture of the popular pain-killer oxycodone and alcohol.
h/t to Kevin at the NY Rangers Blog for finding this article.
