Monday evening brought extremely sad news to the hockey world. Rick Rypien was dead at the age of 27. Rypien signed with the Manitoba Moose late in the 2004-2005 season and spent six years with the Vancouver Canucks. He had earned a reputation as a tough fighter, but behind the scenes he battled personal demons which forced him to take two extended leaves of absence from the Canucks organization prior to his departure in 2011. In July Rypien signed with the Winnipeg Jets, eager to return and joking with teammates about bringing the Cup back to Winnipeg.

The entire hockey community mourns the loss of Rick Rypien and part of that process will naturally evolve into questions about how they can do more to help those in their community battle depression. Sadly we will never have all the answers, but by making Rypien’s story known, we can perhaps help others struggling with depression.

Following are a number of links to many of the tributes and articles devoted to Rick Rypien this week, along with Rypien’s own story of his journey to the NHL:

Rick Rypien’s My Journey to the NHL (canucks.nhl.com)

NEW: Iain MacIntyre’s Canucks to enter fight against depression as legacy to Rypien (Vancouver Sun) August 23, 2011.

James Mirtle’s Jets Forward Rypien Found Dead and NHL player Rypien remembered for gutsy battles on and off ice (The Globe and Mail)

Stu Hackel’s Rypien’s Death is a Stark Reminder (SI.com)

Bruce Arthur’s NHLer’s Death shines light on depression (National Post)

Ian Brown’s The NHL enforcers who go down fighting (The Globe and Mail)

Malcolm Kelly’s NHLer Rypien remembered at funeral (CBC Sports)

Joe Pelletier’s Rick Rypien Passes Away (Greatest Hockey Legends)

Allan Maki’s Clint Malarchuk understood Rypien’s Depression (The Globe and Mail)

Dan Murphy’s R.I.P. Ryp (sportsnet.ca)

Rob Vanstone’s Rick Rypien tragedy stuns Regina Pats organization (The Vancouver Sun)

Rob Vanstone’s Rypien’s Death should raise red flags about player health (The Gazette)

Jim Jamieson’s Rick Rypien, former Canucks forward, dead at 27 (The Province) (including additional links to many other related articles)

The Hockey News’ Former teammate: Rypien talked about bringing Stanley Cup to Winnipeg

David M. Singer’s Rick Rypien Remembrances (hockeyfights.com)

Marc Griffin’s Honouring Rick Rypien and Ted Tevan (The Poutine Wall)

Josh Hall’s Remembering the Ryper (Vancity Sports Blog)

Alanah McGinley’s Remembering Rick Rypien (Kuklas Korner)

Trevor Presiloski’s  The Elephant in the Room (Canucks Army)