Former NHL tough guy Wade Belak found dead in Toronto at the age of 35
By The Canadian Press

TORONTO - Former NHL enforcer Wade Belak has been found dead.

A Nashville Predators spokesman confirmed Wednesday night Belak was found dead in Toronto. He was 35.

Specific details were not immediately available. But Toronto police confirmed they were called to a downtown hotel/condo in the early afternoon and are still investigating the matter.

Belak spent the past three seasons with the Predators prior to retiring over the summer. He was scheduled to work on Nashville's television broadcasts this coming year.

Belak was in Toronto to film the latest season of the CBC show "Battle of the Blades."

The six-foot-five, 222-pound Belak spent parts of 14 seasons in the NHL with Nashville, Florida, Toronto, Calgary and Colorado. He was taken in the first round, 12th overall, in the '94 NHL entry draft by the Quebec Nordiques.

Belak, who accumulated 1,263 career penalty minutes, is the third NHL tough guy to die this summer.

Derek Boogard, a 28-year-old forward with the Minnesota Wild, was found dead May 13 at his Minneapolis apartment due to an accidental mix of alcohol and the painkiller oxycodone.

Then on Aug. 15, forward Rick Rypien of the Winnipeg Jets was found dead in his off-season home in Crowsnest Pass, Alta., at the age of 27.