Concussions ended Mike Richter's NHL career and the former Stanley Cup-winning goalie with the New York Rangers will likely donate his brain to help scientists better understand chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), writes the New York Daily News' Christian Red.

Richter hasn't made his decision, but since his retirement in 2003 and after numerous instances of NFL players making donations before ending their own lives, he's thought about it.

"Probably," the now 49-year-old said about his potential donation. "It's not a particularly happy thought, but in a sense, it is (rewarding) because you're helping other people."

Richter added that he's an organ donor and that his mother donated her body to science after she passed away last year with inclusive myositis, a disease similar to multiple sclerosis.

His name etched on the Stanley Cup in 1994, Richter spent his entire career on Broadway, playing in 666 regular-season games and winning 301 of them. He finished with a career .904 save percentage and 2.89 goals-against average. He shined in the spring of '94, with a .921 save percentage and four shutouts in 23 games, as New York won its first title in 54 years.

Richter retired in 2003 at 36 after two concussions suffered in 2002. He fractured his skull after taking a slap shot to the mask late in the 2001-2002 season, and took a knee to the head in November 2003.

He's in good health now, though, and doesn't suffer any long-term effects. He plays in a non-contact men's rec league, and his goalkeeping days are done - Richter's a forward now.

He played in and came from a different era. Richter added that back in his youth, concussions weren't on the radar. At all.

"I had no idea when I entered as a young kid. I don't subscribe to the idea that everybody in pro sports knows what they signed up for, because we don't. I liked playing," he said.