Chris Simon — a former Soo Greyhounds product who went on to become one of the most feared enforcers in the NHL — had stage 3 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) when he died by suicide last year.
The results of a post-mortem brain tissue analysis were released by Simon’s family members through the Concussion Legacy Foundation on Monday.
Dr. Ann McKee, director of the Boston University CTE Center, made the diagnosis in the months after the 52-year-old took his own life in March 2024.
“Mr. Simon had severe CTE pathology in areas of the brain involved with cognition and mood regulation, and it is likely CTE contributed to his memory problems, depression, and apathy,” McKee said in a release.
“Individuals with a significant history of repetitive head impacts in sports who report these symptoms need to be taken seriously, and our team is committed to providing them the care they need while also continuing to advance CTE research.”
Simon, who was of Anishinaabe heritage, was considered a role model for First Nations hockey players across Canada.
He played the sport of hockey professionally for 21 years, including 15 seasons in the NHL. A six-foot-three, 232-pound forward from Wawa, Ont., Simon fought more than 100 times and accumulated 1,824 penalty minutes over the course of his NHL career.
Prior to that, Simon played for the Soo Greyhounds during the 1991-92 season, tallying 19 goals and 25 assists during the regular season and five goals and eight assists during the playoffs. He was a key part of the team that lost in the 1992 Memorial Cup final to the Kamloops Blazers.
In a post on SooToday, Simon’s family extended its thanks to McKee and the team at Boston University CTE Center for “their outstanding work in getting us the definitive scientific proof post-mortem” that Simon “suffered immensely” from CTE — as initially suspected by family members following his death.
Family members described a number of mental health issues that plagued the former NHL-er in the years leading up to his death — including paranoia, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts — in a public statement posted on the Concussion Legacy Foundation website.
“Our entire family suffered for many years as we saw our son, brother, father, husband slip away from us and we couldn’t do anything to help him,” the family said.
“Before we lost Chris to CTE, he was a very gentle, loving man whose family meant the world to him.”
A total of 19 NHL players studied at the Boston University CTE Center, including Simon, have been posthumously diagnosed with CTE to date, the Concussion Legacy Foundation said in its release.
The CTE diagnoses of Bobby Hull, Ralph Backstrom, Stan Mikita, Bob Probert, and Derek Boogaard were reported in a December 2024 Boston University study, which found the odds of developing CTE increased by 34 per cent for each year of hockey played.
Simon’s family expressed anger over the “negligence of a professional league turning a blind eye to CTE and other significant brain injuries sustained in the sport of hockey.”
SooToday has reached out to the NHL for comment.
Call or text 988 if you or someone you know is thinking about suicide. Help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Additional resources can be found on the Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention website.
- with files from The Canadian Press