His family wondered if he might have endured chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) as a result of concussions he had sustained during his playing career, like some other recently deceased NHL enforcers.
At New Westminster, Ewen was teammates with future NHL players Mark Recchi, Bill Ranford, Cliff Ronning and Brian Noonan, as well as with his younger brother Dean, who went on to be a career minor league enforcer.
[1] At the beginning of the next season, Ewen was assigned to the minors in Nova Scotia where he had a run-in with coach Larry Kish.
He spent the two seasons protecting the team's star players, Paul Kariya and Teemu Selänne, along with his partner, Stu Grimson.
After three years with the Mighty Ducks, Ewen joined the San Jose Sharks as a free agent in 1996–97, his last season in the NHL.
After missing two seasons he attempted a comeback on a training camp tryout with the Phoenix Coyotes, but officially retired after only one day.
Having moved back to St. Louis, he became involved in the local Chesterfield Hockey Association and was the coaching director for three years.
He also was involved in doing coaching seminars with USA hockey for levels 1-3 along with other St Louis Blues alumni Rob Ramage, Mike Zuke and Rick Zombo.
During his tenure with Chesterfield hockey, Ewen was the head coach for every level from mini-mite to midget major central states.
[1] The next day, numerous media outlets reported Ewen committed suicide via a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head.