Former NHLer Marc Savard has decided to donate his brain to science so it can be studied for the effects of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, better known as CTE, a neurodegenerative disease that has affected football, hockey and rugby players, as well as boxers, wrestlers, and really any athlete who has suffered repeated brain trauma or hits to the head.Savard opened up in a recent interview with the Boston Globe, reflecting on his NHL career that was cut short and his decision to donate his brain to the research of CTE.Savard was diagnosed with six concussions over his 14-season NHL career, none of which were more frightening than the one he sustained in January 2011 on what proved to be a career-ending hit from Matt Hunwick.
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"I got down on my knees there and I just saw pitch black with my eyes open, and I can remember Donny [trainer Don DelNegro] coming out."I said, 'Donny, I don't know what's wrong here, but I'm dying. I can't see anything.' And my eyes were open, so I was quite scared there."The blow from Hunwick came after Savard had already missed the first 23 games of the 2010-11 season with post-concussion syndrome, and a mere 10 months after he sustained a concussion on a blindside hit to the head from Penguins forward Matt Cooke, which may have been the one that really did him in.READ MORE: How Concussions Ruined Michel Petit and Steve Payne's NHL Careers
"When it happened, I was out for 29 seconds. Straight. Cold. I remember going off on the stretcher and I remember thinking, 'My kids are probably watching and they were probably worried,'" he said.The decision to donate his brain is one based around not only his own trying experiences with head trauma, but also resulting from those horrific experiences of teammates and people close to him.He's a member of the board with the Canadian Concussion Centre, which is led by brain injury expert Charles Tator of Toronto Western Hospital. His good friend and former teammate Steve Montador, who also suffered multiple brain injuries, died at age 35 in February 2015 and had his brain donated to the centre. Tests confirmed Montador had extensive CTE damage as a result of suffering at least 15 documented concussions over a 13-year NHL career.The 39-year-old Savard enjoyed an excellent career before head injuries ultimately ended it prematurely, putting up 706 points over 806 games with New York, Calgary, Atlanta and Boston. The Bruins won the Stanley Cup in Savard's final season, but he was limited to 25 contests and didn't play a single postseason game with the team.The New Jersey Devils are paying out the remaining $4 million left on Savard's contract, but will only be charged $575,000 against the cap due to his long-term injury status. He signed a seven-year, $28 million deal with the Bruins in 2009.That's the main one, because I never felt like that in my life. I've had concussions—I remember in Calgary I slept for a week straight. But the one from Cooke was a nightmare. I went through a lot of dark days there. For a good three months I was a zombie.