[News] Ryan Callahan has degenerative back disease and put on LTIR

[sureLoss]

awful news for Callahan but helps Tampa's cap situation

Caley Chelios
@CaleyChelios
BREAKING NEWS: Julien BriseBois stated today that forward Ryan Callahan has been diagnosed with degenerative back disease and recommended that he no longer play professional hockey.

Caley Chelios
@CaleyChelios
What does that mean for the organization and the cap situation? BriseBois, “The likeliest scenario now is that we are going to put him on long term injury exemption and that is how we're going to manage his cap hit going forward."

[burnitdown]

That’s too bad for him - great career with the Rangers. Isn’t that what Lucic has too?

[Fire]

Convenient diagnosis for the Lightning.

[Ashasx]

Originally Posted by Fire

Convenient diagnosis for the Lightning.

Lucic's diagnosis is coming soon.

[TheScorpion]

Not very surprising, but hope all is well.

[JTech780]

Correct me if I am wrong, but his cap hit would still count on day 1 and then they could put him on LTIR on day 2, at which point they could go over the cap up to the amount of his cap hit.

Meaning they still have to be cap compliant on day 1 with Callahan's cap hit on the books.

[Robbob]

Only has a year left anyways. It also wasn't one of those massive back-loaded contracts. i don't see anything wrong here.

[PlayfulGenius]

Originally Posted by Fire

Convenient diagnosis for the Lightning.

Kinda... the other perspective is that'd he still be a great player if not for this condition

[LGA]

So...he has a back and is older than a toddler? DDD (or degenerative disc/back disease) is basically a nothing diagnosis. It just means that there are degenerative changes observed under diagnostic imaging which, surprise, every poster on here probably has.

[codynw]

Why does stuff like this literally only happen to cap strapped teams with players that aren't worth their contracts?

[mrdonkey]

When can we expect Lucic to develop crippling, career-ending carpel tunnel or ADHD symptoms?

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by LGA

So...he has a back and is older than a toddler? DDD (or degenerative disc/back disease) is basically a nothing diagnosis. It just means that there are degenerative changes observed under diagnostic imaging which, surprise, every poster on here probably has.

Considering you have no idea how back his disc degeneration is or how bad his symptoms are, calling it a “nothing diagnosis” is some A+ BS.

I get that people don’t see hockey players as human beings, but the amount of people who jump to discredit players for pulling a ####ty card in life just because a team gets out of the cap hit is ridiculous and embarrassing.

Callahan has 1 more year at 5.8 which still counts up until the Lightning open the season. It’s not like this is a huge win for them. His contract is done in a year.

Sucks for Callahan to retire at 34 though. Yikes.

[dissentowner]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Considering you have no idea how back his disc degeneration is or how bad his symptoms are, calling it a “nothing diagnosis” is some A+ BS.

I get that people don’t see hockey players as human beings, but the amount of people who jump to discredit players for pulling a ####ty card in life just because a team gets out of the cap hit is ridiculous and embarrassing.

Callahan has 1 more year at 5.8 which still counts up until the Lightning open the season. It’s not like this is a huge win for them. His contract is done in a year.

Sucks for Callahan to retire at 34 though. Yikes.

And yet they were trying to trade him all last year and recently and could find no takers. Funny how this suddenly came out of nowhere after that. He has accomplished a lot, he can sit back and collect a cool $6M while giving his team cap relief. I would bet dollars to doughnuts if he really wanted to play he could

[LGA]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Considering you have no idea how back his disc degeneration is or how bad his symptoms are, calling it a “nothing diagnosis” is some A+ BS.

I get that people don’t see hockey players as human beings, but the amount of people who jump to discredit players for pulling a ####ty card in life just because a team gets out of the cap hit is ridiculous and embarrassing.

Callahan has 1 more year at 5.8 which still counts up until the Lightning open the season. It’s not like this is a huge win for them. His contract is done in a year.

Sucks for Callahan to retire at 34 though. Yikes.

I have no problem with him retiring due to back pain. That's a perfectly reasonable and expected outcome for a guy that has missed games due to having a busted up back for a long period of time. It sucks for him for sure, he was one of the players I enjoyed watching because he was a bit crazy on the ice.

What I have a problem with is him retiring due to "Degenerative Back Disease" as if it's some rare and mystical illness. He's got a bad back, it hurts and is preventing him from playing, just call it that.

[PlayfulGenius]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

And yet they were trying to trade him all last year and recently and could find no takers. Funny how this suddenly came out of nowhere after that. He has accomplished a lot, he can sit back and collect a cool $6M while giving his team cap relief. I would bet dollars to doughnuts if he really wanted to play he could

and no the same thing as whether he SHOULD play this year. I get the skepticism, to a point, as I don't see what's in it for the player if this diagnosis is BS... and he'd have to be in on it if it was.

[Robbob]

Originally Posted by dissentowner

And yet they were trying to trade him all last year and recently and could find no takers. Funny how this suddenly came out of nowhere after that. He has accomplished a lot, he can sit back and collect a cool $6M while giving his team cap relief. I would bet dollars to doughnuts if he really wanted to play he could

I think if he isn't medically cleared than he won't play. I would bet dollars to doughnuts that he wants nothing more than to play.

They were mentioning on the radio that the initial thought would be Hossa and what not. Truth is he has been battling a bunch of injuries all year. I don't know if is true or not, but they mentioned that there was contract extension talk before a lot of the injury issues this year. Regarding trying to get rid of him, I personally don't recall the trade rumours around him.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by LGA

I have no problem with him retiring due to back pain. That's a perfectly reasonable and expected outcome for a guy that has missed games due to having a busted up back for a long period of time. It sucks for him for sure, he was one of the players I enjoyed watching because he was a bit crazy on the ice.

What I have a problem with is him retiring due to "Degenerative Back Disease" as if it's some rare and mystical illness. He's got a bad back, it hurts and is preventing him from playing, just call it that.

But that’s what it’s called. It’s not like every 34 year old is walking around with it, and certainly not professional athletes.

It’s not some rare and mystical illness, you’re putting that on it.

[Oling_Roachinen]

Thought he had longer on his contract.

Originally Posted by JTech780

Correct me if I am wrong, but his cap hit would still count on day 1 and then they could put him on LTIR on day 2, at which point they could go over the cap up to the amount of his cap hit.

Meaning they still have to be cap compliant on day 1 with Callahan's cap hit on the books.

This was the thinking for awhile until the Leafs said that Horton was on LTIR during the off-season.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/...on-cap-relief/

[VladtheImpaler]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

But that’s what it’s called. It’s not like every 34 year old is walking around with it, and certainly not professional athletes.

It’s not some rare and mystical illness, you’re putting that on it.

Yes, every 34 year-old is walking around with it - it's called aging. For most people it is asymptomatic until they sustain some sort of injury/trauma. I am not a doctor, but I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express. Well, also, my business requires me to review MRI reports on a regular basis.

[LGA]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

But that’s what it’s called. It’s not like every 34 year old is walking around with it, and certainly not professional athletes.

It’s not some rare and mystical illness, you’re putting that on it.

DDD is a general catch all term that doesn't really provide the true scope of what's happening in someone's back. It can be used to identify changes in disc height, the presence of disc protrusions, arthritic changes to the facets; structural changes that are visible on imaging and with varying degrees of severity which can be pretty subjective depending on the observer. However, the presence of degenerative discs does not necessarily correlate to low back pain. There have been quite a few studies that indicate asymptomatic people (those without symptoms) will present with DDD on MR imaging (rough numbers 1/3 in the 20s, 1/2 in the 30-40 age group, gets higher percentage wise as you get older). There's also an argument in the research that there needs to be more study and understanding of the pathogenesis and pain mechanism around DDD to determine why some individuals develop pain with DDD and others don't.

As I stated earlier, my issue is with the headlines of him retiring due to DDD. As if the mere diagnosis was the only reason he is retiring. No, he's retiring because his back hurts and is probably pretty beat up after many years in the league. In a society that is looking for the next big fear inducing diagnosis, I don't think the media is doing anyone favours when they are stating he is retiring due to DDD.