Bickell feeling 'a lot better' since retirement

Bryan Bickell is happy to be starting the next phase of his life.

The former Carolina Hurricanes and Chicago Blackhawks forward, who retired after the regular season due to multiple sclerosis, is settling in to life after hockey.

"I'm feeling a lot better now that I'm not playing hockey. Slowing the heart rate down, slowing the body down, and slowing the mind down definitely helps me feel a lot better. From the get-go to a month afterward and then working my way back, I got better," Bickell told Tracey Myers of CSN Chicago. "I feel comfortable now. I can do a lot of things that, that month, I couldn't really do."

Bickell was diagnosed with MS in November, but was intent on making a return, which started in the AHL and eventually led him back to the Hurricanes' lineup for four games to close out the regular season.

He scored a shootout goal in his final NHL game, and concluded his career with 176 points in 395 games to go with three Stanley Cup rings.