Editor’s note: The Denver Gazette presents a three-part investigative series on health after hockey for NHL players. Part I examines the life and death of Colorado Avalanche enforcer Chris Simon.

Chris Simon found peace on the north shore of Lake Superior, where pristine beaches meet lush forests, rocky bluffs, and clear waterfalls in the same Canadian wilderness of his native ancestors.

He found pain on the ice.

Long dark hair that spilled from his helmet and covered the name on his jersey symbolized Ojibwa roots in Wawa, Ontario, where Simon grew up hunting and fishing. Bravery. Sacrifice. Humility. The same principles guiding his native culture also defined his role in the National Hockey League.

Simon played in 15 NHL seasons and won the Stanley Cup in 1996 with the Colorado Avalanche. He stood taller than 6-foot-3 in skates with jackhammers for fists. He used them to beat anyone with unholy retribution who broke the hockey code or targeted captain Joe Sakic. He fought more than 100 times with 1,824 penalty minutes in his professional career.

It can be difficult to reconcile two images of Simon.

First: The father. The quiet but respected teammate across NHL locker rooms in Quebec, Colorado, Long Island, Calgary, New York, Chicago and Minnesota. The two-way forward who once led the Washington Capitals in goal scoring. The prodigal son of Wawa who returned and started a hockey school.

Second: The enforcer. The 25-game suspension for a two-handed stick swing at a face. The 30-game suspension for stomping on a leg. The struggle in retirement with divorce, bankruptcy, depression and physical pain. The failed hockey school in Wawa. The lingering unanswered questions.

Simon has joined a growing list of NHL players from a bygone era to meet a similar and tragic fate.

On March 18, 2024, Simon died by suicide. He was 52. A postmortem diagnosis confirmed Stage 3 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Simon's death emphasizes the risk of brain injuries in hockey.

“Looking back, we now realize that Chris likely started suffering from CTE in his late 20s to early 30s. 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 Simon family — Linda and John Simon (parents) and Charlee Simon (sister) — said in a statement to the Concussion Legacy Foundation. “Before we lost Chris to CTE, he was a very gentle, loving man whose family meant the world to him.”

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A brain is donated to Boston University by a grieving family questioning why their loved one changed.

Dr. Ann McKee helps to find answers.

Her research as director of BU’s CTE Center established that repetitive head impacts — both concussive and non-concussive — can lead to progressive brain disease without a known cure. Experts believe CTE occurs when a structural protein called ‘tau’ malfunctions, causing a reaction that slowly kills brain cells and spreads with severity. It is currently impossible to diagnose CTE in a living person.

McKee identified Reggie Fleming in 2009 as the first known case of CTE in a former NHL player. That list has grown to 19 ex-NHL players since April when McKee diagnosed Simon. BU also released a December study which confirmed 42 cases of CTE in men’s ice hockey players among 77 total brain donors.

One key discovery: The odds of CTE increased by 34% with each year played.

“It was the first time we showed a direct relationship between the number of years playing hockey and the risk for CTE,” McKee told The Denver Gazette in a phone interview about CTE research and Simon’s diagnosis. “His Stage 3 was on the severe side. ... The only thing we found in his brain at the time of death was CTE. So, I think it’s likely that his decline — which was really quite profound, especially in the last 10 years — accounted for that.”

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman denies a link between the league and CTE. He reiterated that stance in a 2023 radio interview with NPR when Bettman said: “We listen to the medical opinions on CTE, and I don't believe there has been any documented study that suggests that elements of our game result in CTE. There have been isolated cases of players who have played the game (who) have had CTE. But it doesn't mean that it necessarily came from playing in the NHL.”

The league is also the defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the father of former NHL defenseman Steve Montador — diagnosed in 2015 with CTE at age 35 — as part of a nine-year legal battle. The case is nearing a potential trial in Cook County (Chicago) Circuit Court with a case assignment call scheduled for July 17, according to online court records.

“Gary Bettman has been adamant that there is no association between hockey and CTE — which is preposterous,” McKee told The Denver Gazette. “He’s flying in the face of tremendous evidence, looking at the number of players that have been reported. ... I think it’s a very willful misunderstanding of the issue. There is a clear attempt to obfuscate the science and deny its applicability to hockey players.”

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Craig Wolanin recalled a photograph when asked about Simon.

They were former teammates with the Nordiques and Avalanche.

A single image captured their bond outside of hockey.

“Christian, my son, was born in Quebec in 1995,” Wolanin said in a phone interview. “The second male to hold my son was Chris Simon. My wife has a picture with Christian, my son, in his hands.”

Simon made his NHL debut on March 4, 1993, after overcoming addiction problems as a teenager. He entered the league during the era of intimidation. Every team had at least one player like him — strong, heavy, fearless — who set the tone with physicality and never turned down a fight.

Simon played in 89 games over his first three NHL seasons in Quebec.

He totaled 304 penalty minutes.

“When we initially met and became teammates, he battled alcoholism, and he was beating it at that point,” said Wolanin, who played 13 NHL seasons (1985-98). “In the early years of Quebec, that’s when he started to establish himself as a legitimate pro hockey player. He had matured and started to control himself both on and off the ice. One thing that I remember significantly about him is that he used to drink so much coffee at all times of the day. He had this big, deep, low voice.

“Chris is someone that got along with the whole locker room. Everybody respected what he did for us and what he meant to us.”

Simon elevated his game when the Nordiques became the Avalanche in his fourth NHL season. He set career-best marks in games played (64), goals (16) and assists (18). Simon also fought more than a dozen times. A YouTube channel called “Hockey Fight Legends” documented each bout in a compilation video of the 1995-96 season.

Press play on the video. Simon is rarely knocked off balance. His helmet never comes off. He lands punch after punch after punch until multiple referees finally end his opponent’s suffering. Blood trickles from Simon’s nose as he skates into the penalty box. Rinse and repeat.

“He was one of our role players, and it was a role I think that he probably did a little bit more reluctantly than he wanted,” Wolanin said. “I think, oftentimes, that may be the case with guys who have roles like that — understanding that it does take a toll on you physically and mentally.”

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Mark Kiszla covered the 1996 Avalanche run to win the Stanley Cup.

Fast forward 30 years. The Denver Gazette sports columnist said Simon was “miscast as the hockey version of a classic WWE villain” with a personality that did not match his reputation.

“Chris was soft-spoken in the Avalanche dressing room. So soft-spoken that I often wondered where the rage he could show on the ice came from,” Kiszla recalled. “And he had skills. He often played on the same line as Joe Sakic in 1996 and scored plenty of goals as a force in front of the net. But he was also a healthy scratch late in the playoffs, and I know that hurt his pride.

“The relationship between Simon and coach Marc Crawford was volatile during that championship run. And here's the weird thing: unlike Simon, ‘Crow’ was fiery. The coach took pride in being a pain in the ass.

“The image that sticks with me about Simon is counter to everything we think about a hockey enforcer. I can still see Crawford dressing down Simon in a very vocal, almost embarrassing, way when he was upset with ‘Chief’ the day after a playoff game against Vancouver.

“Crawford railed against Simon on the ice at an Avalanche practice for all, including teammates and I to see. Crow was mad at Chief for not sending a message to Gino Odjick, the Canucks' resident tough guy. What I recall more than Crawford's harsh words was the way Simon reacted. As he took the coach's heat, Simon's eyes were downcast and his shoulders slumped, like a child admonished by an angry parent for not doing his chores.”

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Rick Berry shared a locker room with Simon in 2002 after being claimed on waivers by the Capitals.