The Tampa Bay Lightning today announced that Ryan Callahan has been diagnosed with a degenerative back disease. It also appears that this will end his career; it has been recommended that he no longer play professional hockey. Callahan will be placed on Long Term Injured Reserve for next season to give the Lightning salary cap relief due to his injury. He also gave an interview to Bryan Burns of TampaBayLightning.com talking about the issue.
While it has been clear that his time with the Lightning was coming to an end, this is definitely not the way you’d like to see a player like Callahan end his career.