Daniel Carcillo watched helplessly as his friend and former teammate Steve Montador struggled to adapt to life after hockey. Concussions had left Montador with memory loss so severe that the longtime defenceman carried multiple keys for the same lock.
He tried becoming a radio analyst, but when that didn't pan out, he seemed burdened by an uncertain future.
"He just didn't know what he wanted to do next," Carcillo said. "He was just searching for that. He was searching for a lot of things, as we're all going to do when we move on."
Last winter, Carcillo was in the Chicago Blackhawks players lounge when he got the devastating news.