Tampa Bay Lightning forward and former New York Rangers captain, Ryan Callahan, has been diagnosed with a degenerative back disease.
General manager Julien BriseBois made the announcement on Thursday. The official press release offered by the team described the condition as “degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine.”
Doctors have recommended that he no longer continue to play professional hockey. The Lightning have placed him on the long term injured reserve list.
“It’s been a couple of years in the making, and I think this year it just got to a point where it was almost unbearable at times,” Callahan explained to Bryan Burns of the team’s official website on Thursday.