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Vancouver’s Rick Rypien given a leave of absence to address personal matters

Rick Rypien

The Canucks announced today that they’ve given feisty enforcer Rick Rypien a leave of absence from the team so he can attend to personal problems. The last many may have heard from Rypien came earlier this season when he was suspended for six games for reaching into the stands in Minnesota to grab a fan who was heckling him.

The downside of this story, aside from the obvious implications, are that the Canucks and Rypien have been through this type of thing before. Two years ago, Rypien was given a similar leave of absence to address personal issues. He missed 70 games that year and while the Canucks never officially said what Rypien went away for, his problems are a bit darker than what we’re accustomed to hearing about as Iain MacIntyre of the Vancouver Sun tells us.

Neither player nor club has ever explained Rypien’s months-long leave of absence two years ago, and it doesn’t appear any details will be offered this time, as coach Alain Vigneault refused this morning to discuss the latest leave. But Rypien’s “personal” issues are widely believed related to the 25-year-old’s mental health. The Canucks will be doing everything they can to help him.

Rypien’s job in the NHL is to be a tough guy. An irritant in a uniform and an occasional fighter. It’s the sort of job in the league that can either attract or be the cause of someone having personal demons. One only needs to think of iconic enforcer Bob Probert as an example of such a situation. While Rypien will get all the time he needs to get himself right, the Canucks are going to have to move on without him in the lineup. For now, we’ll just have to hope Rypien can get better and avoid an unfortunate end to his career.