Linus Omark, an Edmonton Oilers 2007 fourth-round draft pick, talks about his five seasons in Russia's KHL and why he left. Omark claims he had psychiatric disorders exacerbated by a severe fear of flying.
"The fear was so great that I became deathly anxious while in Russia. I'm not kidding. There were a lot of games when I felt like I was going to die on the ice," said Omark. "I felt like I needed to feel good mentally. That was one of the reasons I left the KHL."
"Imagine this. Once ten times in a season you stand on the blue line, look at the ceiling and think that you're going to die, you're going to die. Those are horrible thoughts, very difficult to get rid of. But sometimes I was able to do it."
