Fighting in the N.H.L. Reveals Few, if Any, Winners

When the Rangers and the Capitals dropped their gloves to settle a score, the old-school spectacle was greeted with disgust, nostalgia and excitement.

Ten years ago this month, a popular Rangers enforcer, considered by some to be the toughest man and the most fearsome fighter in the N.H.L., died alone in his apartment from an accidental overdose of painkillers and alcohol. That man, Derek Boogaard, 28, was later determined to have a severe case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., the degenerative brain disease caused by repeated blows to the head. Boogaard’s death came less than a year after that of Bob Probert, a beloved roughneck of the Detroit Red Wings. The list of players who died before age 50 and were later found with C.T.E. grew quickly: Rick Rypien, Wade Belak, Steve Montador and Todd Ewen among them. Untold N.H.L. survivors disappear into middle age to battle their demons alone.