Gino Odjic passed away at the age of 52 after contracting a fatal disease.
During the 1990s, the Canadian forward was notable in the NHL for his physical game.
– The role he played as a player is considered one of the most difficult in hockey, he was the tough guy who supported his teammates, says former teammate Stan Smil.
In 2014, Gino Odjic suffered from AL-amyloidosis.
It causes the body to make an abnormal protein that lodges on the heart and makes it harder until it can no longer beat.
Now the NHL is in mourning after the league’s file died from a heart attack as a result of the disease.
– He was a very special person on the ice. Off the ice, he was one of the coolest people I’ve met and played with, says former teammate Stan Smil, now vice president of the Vancouver Canucks.
Pavel Bure, with whom he played for the Vancouver Canucks, has often described Gino Odjic as his best friend, including how he defended him on the ice.
top of the relegation league
During the 1990s and ’40s, Gino Odjic played twelve National Hockey League seasons and 648 games for the Vancouver Canucks, New York Islanders, Philadelphia Flyers, and Montreal Canadiens.
It was eight seasons for the Vancouver Canucks team, where in the 1996/1997 season he became the most dismissed player in the National Hockey League with 371 minutes of ejection.
– Gino Odjick has been a fan favorite since the day he joined the club, with his heart and soul in every change he makes. He has inspired many and embodied what it means to be a Canuck. Vancouver Canucks owner Francesco Aquilini said he will be sorely missed.
When he was diagnosed in 2014, doctors weren’t sure how long Gino Odjic would survive, if it could be months or weeks.