Blackhawks Great Stan Mikita To Miss NHL’s Top 100 Ceremony Due To Suspected Dementia

Stan Mikita hasn’t made very many public appearances recently, and he’ll miss out on another big event due to health issues.

Blackhawks Great Stan Mikita To Miss NHL’s Top 100 Ceremony Due To Suspected Dementia

The 76-year-old Chicago Blackhawks legend will reportedly not attend the NHL’s Top 100 players ceremony on Friday night in Los Angeles, where he will be among those honored, due to suspected dementia with Lewy bodies, a brain disorder that has “symptoms (that) include hallucinations and varied levels of alertness.”

The ceremony will be part of the 2017 NHL All-Star Game festivities.

“We told him he was being honored,” Mikita’s daughter, Jane, said. “If it sunk in, we can’t tell.”

Jane, along with Mikita’s wife, Jill, and one of his grandson’s, Billy, will travel to L.A. for the ceremony.

“It’s going to make me cry,” Jane said. “It makes me emotional just because I wish he could see it. He was always so humble and I think more proud of what he did off the ice than maybe what he did on. I just wish he could enjoy it.”

Mikita remains physically healthy, however, and often takes long walks at the Chicago-area facility where he now lives. His daughter said he has recently begun to sleep more than usual.

A Hockey Hall-of-Famer, Mikita played a franchise record 1,394 games in 22 seasons with the Blackhawks. He is also the franchise’s all-time leading scorer with 1,467 points and holds Chicago’s record in assists (926) and 20-goal seasons (14).

Eight other Blackhawks are expected to be named at the Top 100 ceremony: Max Bentley, Tony Esposito, Glenn Hall, Bobby Hull and potentially Denis Savard, as well as current players Patrick Kane, Duncan Keith and Jonathan Toews. 

Hall will also miss the ceremony because he’s “not a Hollywood-type guy.”

CHICAGO – APRIL 25: Former Chicago Blackhawks player Stan Mikita waves to the crowd prior to the start of play against the Calgary Flames during Game Five of the Western Conference Quarterfinals of the 2009 Stanley Cup Playoffs on April 25, 2009 at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)