'There is life after the game,' NHLer forced to quit over equipment allergy tells Marian Hossa

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Three-time Stanley Cup winner Marian Hossa won't be playing this coming season. 

The veteran Chicago Blackhawks winger and former Ottawa Senator announced this morning in a statement that because of a "progressive skin condition" and the treatments he's taking to control it, he won't be back on the ice this fall. 

• Blackhawks' Hossa to miss next season with skin disorder

While it's unclear what exactly is going on with Hossa's skin, it's not unheard of for players to develop a skin allergy to their hockey equipment.

It's often referred to by players as the "gunk," and it caused former defenceman Tom Reid, who also played with the Blackhawks, to retire from the game in 1978 after 11 years in the NHL.

Reid, who owns a hockey pub and works as a radio broadcaster for the Minnesota Wild, spoke with As It Happens host Carol Off about the "gunk" and how it ended his career. Here is part of their conversation. 

CO: Tom, do you have any sense what Marian Hossa is going through right now?

TR: I think I do because I was in the same situation as Marian that all of a sudden you wake up one day and realize you might not be able to play the game anymore at the highest level.

There's obviously disappointment with it. You want to go out when you feel like going out. You don't want to go out on an injury or illness of some kind.

CO: What's it like, this condition, this rash, that you developed as a hockey player?

TR: I'm not sure if it's the same thing he has. But in my situation, I had no skin from my waist to  below my neck. Upper chest area on the front and back. I was secreting like a bloody, pussy liquid at its worst, where I would have to wrap myself in towels to protect my clothes as best I could.

The problem with that is when it dried up, and you take the towel off, you reopen the wound, so there was never any relief from it. The more I played, the more difficult it became for me to play.

The only relief I got from it was being away from the ice.

CO: What was it diagnosed as being? What did they say it was?

TR: They said it was the gunk. Nobody had a name for it. They couldn't figure out what it was because it was kind of like a perfect storm. It was a combination of my body chemistry, it was the friction of the equipment, it was the heat generated and the perspiration. Those four things together created a problem for me.

The word 'gunk' came for it because they didn't have a name for it. I was going to the No. 2 dermatology centre in the United States in Marshfield, Wis., and they tried everything.

'They said, "You know we cannot continue to give you the steroids and the cortisone shots anymore. You'll be dead by the time you're 40.'"- Tom Reid 

They did everything they possibly could but at some point they said, "You know we cannot continue to give you the steroids and the cortisone shots anymore. You'll be dead by the time you're 40." 

That kind of painted a picture for me that, sayonara, I'm out of here. And so I left the game and it was a difficult time in those days too for me to walk away. I figured I had another three, four, five years remaining, but I never got to that point.

CO: Now you know there are skeptics about Mr. Hossa's announcement, the skin condition is why he has to depart from playing and the claim is that this is just a convenient way for the Chicago Blackhawks to get around their salary cap. What do you think of comments like that?

TR: I think they're very immature, to be honest with you. I mean, here's a guy who loves the game. Do you think he wants to go out with that hanging over him? Absolutely not. He's a very proud individual, he's had a great career and he doesn't want to be known as leaving the game because of a salary cap issue. He's leaving the game because he has a medical condition that is out of control.

CO: What would you say to Marian Hossa if you could right now?

TR: Well you know, you've had a great ride and as difficult as it is, there is life after the game. He's going to be a Hall of Fame member, there's no question in my mind. He's been terrific for the Blackhawks … and he's got his name on the Stanley Cup, which a lot of people, including myself, can never say. He's had a wonderful career and he'll find that there is a life after hockey.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. For more, listen to our conversation with Tom Reid.