At approximately 1:33 p.m. on August 31, 2011, Belak was found dead in a condo at the One King Street West hotel in Toronto. Police did not confirm a cause of his death, but Toronto Police treated it as a suicide. He was 35 years old, and had been preparing to take part in the upcoming season of "Battle of the Blades". His death was the third in a series of NHL players found dead in a four-month span, following Derek Boogaard and Rick Rypien. His mother stated that he had been suffering from depression. Michael Landsberg reported that he had spoken with Belak one week before his death about their mutual depression, and that Belak admitted having been on "happy pills" for the previous four to five years. Landsberg stated that Belak was agreeable to appearing in a documentary on celebrity depression that Landsberg was working on, and going public about his condition.