What a damn shame. I just read an article in Sports Illustrated that basically states how professional sports leagues need to start doing more in regards to monitoring players' mental health better, as there have been way too many athletes committing suicide in all sports the past few years. If it is true that he committed suicide than I hope his death will help serve to make everyone more aware that mental health is a serious issue with athletes today, and common physical checkups should do more to gauge a players' mental health so that teams are aware of problems their players' might be having. It's still too early to jump to conclusions though so I'll reserve judgement until the cause of death is released. R.I.P. Rick Rypien.
EDIT:
Here's the article. Good read. Check it out.