On December 29, 2016 the Brampton Beast announced that they had signed forward David Ling to a contract. Two weeks later he celebrated the remarkable 20th anniversary of his first NHL game with the Montreal Canadiens.
Ling was drafted by the Quebec Nordiques in the seventh round of the 1993 NHL Entry Draft and followed that by leading the Ontario Hockey League in scoring in 1994-95, scoring a remarkable 61 goals for the Kingston Frontenacs.
Despite the junior numbers he was putting up, he was a sweetener in a trade between the franchise that drafted him — now the Colorado Avalanche — and the Calgary Flames so that the Avalanche could move up in the ninth round of the 1995 draft.