Vancouver Canucks defenseman Willie Mitchell finally spoke to media Thursday afternoon after months of recovery from a concussion he suffered from a hit from behind.
Mitchell was hit into the corner boards by Pittsburg Penguins superstar Evgeni Malkin in a game at GM Place January 16.
He was originally listed as "day-to-day" but ended up missing the rest of the 2010 regular season and the first two rounds of the playoffs.
"I'm disappointed the season's ended," Mitchell told reporters. "I think where I am on my progression I had a real shot at playing and helping this team out if we got through this round."
At the same time, Mitchell is relieved by his team's second round exit. He wanted to return to the Canucks' lineup, but also said the pressure to return placed a lot of stress on his brain.
"It's a doubled-edged sword because my mindset through all this was obviously getting back to help the team," said Mitchell.
He tried his best to put himself in a healing environment to heal physically, mentally, and emotionally, which partly was the reason he did not speak with media, he said.
Mitchell said he could not even watch hockey games at the beginning of his recovery.
"It's been a long physical journey and [an] emotional journey," said Mitchell. "You've injured your brain and the pain of the injury is the emotional pain of the injury as well."
Mitchell spoke in a monotone voice to reporters, trying to keep his emotions in check. When it came to a discussion on head shots, Mitchell spoke strongly about the NHL dishing out harsher punishments to offenders.
"I'm not happy about the hit I took. You're taught from a young age you don't hit from behind," said Mitchell.
"No one is going to take back the last four and a half months that I've endured and my family's endured. I don't want any one to go through what I just did."
Mitchell said the league and players' association need to look at how they discipline players. He also thinks consistency is missing from punishments handed out by the league and Colin Campbell, the NHL's director of hockey operations.
When the league's officials are dealing with people and players who are their friends it's hard to hand down harsh punishments, said Mitchell.
Mitchell thinks having a third party to examine disciplinary cases would help promote consistency. A head shot is a head shot and he thinks whether or not a player is injured or if the player delivering a hit is a superstar, the punishment should be the same.
"It's about protecting my peers in the league," said Mitchell. "It's a high level game that's in Colin Campbell's hands."
