Prospect Info: Cayden Lindstrom

[cbjthrowaway]

Didn't he miss time last season due to a back injury prior to missing time this season from his shoulder?

boone's missed a lot of time for his back issues. this season it was the shoulder thing which seemed like a freak accident.

 

[CBJx614]

Back injuries in his teens and early twenties? Did he ever need surgery or was it just rest? I seem to remember him having back issues in the last five years but I don't recall if they ever required surgery.

He had a stress fracture in 2014 and I remember the board(myself included) freaking out and worrying about his future and ability to play because of it

Jackets F Jenner has stress fracture in back

The injury-riddled Columbus Blue Jackets will be without forward Boone Jenner for one to two months because of a stress fracture in his back.

www.espn.com

 

[Iron Balls McGinty]

boone's missed a lot of time for his back issues. this season it was the shoulder thing which seemed like a freak accident.

Statistically, Boone has been good to miss at least 10-12 games or more per season every year since 18-19.

I don't know for what specifically each time but he played 77 games that year and has hit the 70 games mark 1 time since. He's been trending to miss 20 games or more the last few seasons with this year being obviously due to the shoulder.

 

[Doggy]

He had a stress fracture in 2014 and I remember the board(myself included) freaking out and worrying about his future and ability to play because of it

Jackets F Jenner has stress fracture in back

The injury-riddled Columbus Blue Jackets will be without forward Boone Jenner for one to two months because of a stress fracture in his back.

www.espn.com

So no surgery...just rest and back in two months? Hardly apples to apples.

 

[stevo61]

So no surgery...just rest and back in two months? Hardly apples to apples.

If Lindstrom was older and in the NHL he probably would have done exactly what Vasilevski did and just get the surgery. Lindstrom is young and has his whole life/career ahead of him so they took the patient approach and gave it time to see if it would heal 100% itself

 

[VT]

We have someone on our team who had back problems when he was younger and now he's still playing into his 30s and is our Captain...not all back injuries mean you can't play, you just have to manage them better

Now the medical procedures have improved, but Lindstrom plays aggressive hockey and the consequences of back injuries are unpredictable. It's also important to remember that every player is different. We will see...

 

[CBJx614]

So no surgery...just rest and back in two months? Hardly apples to apples.

Jack Eichel had a total disc replacement at an older age and is seemingly okay.

As others have said Vasilivsky just had a similar surgery to Lindstrom and is fine.

Obviously no one can know the future but they thought his skill level was worth the risk and they are investing millions into this kid, safe to say they've done their research and felt fine selecting him still.

 

[majormajor]

Jack Eichel had a total disc replacement at an older age and is seemingly okay.

As others have said Vasilivsky just had a similar surgery to Lindstrom and is fine.

Do we know how similar the surgery was to Vasilevskiy's?

Vasilevskiy had his microdiscectomy surgery Sept 28, 2023, and returned to play November 24th, just two months later. He had the worst season of his career with a .900 save percentage, before bouncing back up to .921 this season.

Lindstrom was kept out much longer than that. If it was all precaution then that's great, maybe Lindstrom has a great bounceback next season in college. But I think it might have been because the surgery was more elaborate than Vasi's.

Obviously no one can know the future but they thought his skill level was worth the risk and they are investing millions into this kid, safe to say they've done their research and felt fine selecting him still.

When they made their selection, they understood the risk that this might happen, but they were playing the odds that it would not go like this. I'm sure they would have made a different choice if they knew beforehand that Lindstrom would need surgery and miss a year.

 

[Jovavic]

Pretty sure Eichel's issue was with his neck and not his lower back, so his recovery and return to a star level of play is irrelevant

 

[CBJx614]

Do we know how similar the surgery was to Vasilevskiy's?

Vasilevskiy had his microdiscectomy surgery Sept 28, 2023, and returned to play November 24th, just two months later. He had the worst season of his career with a .900 save percentage, before bouncing back up to .921 this season.

Lindstrom was kept out much longer than that. If it was all precaution then that's great, maybe Lindstrom has a great bounceback next season in college. But I think it might have been because the surgery was more elaborate than Vasi's.

Possibly, or they were just being overly cautious and wanted to ramp things up slowly and not taking any risks with him being so young. I don't think we'll ever really know.

When they made their selection, they understood the risk that this might happen, but they were playing the odds that it would not go like this. I'm sure they would have made a different choice if they knew beforehand that Lindstrom would need surgery and miss a year.

Well if they knew all of that, they would also know that we missed the playoffs by a single game and I feel pretty confident they would've made the deal knowing that this team was that close to potentially being a playoff caliber team

Pretty sure Eichel's issue was with his neck and not his lower back, so his recovery and return to a star level of play is irrelevant

While not exactly one to one, they replaced an entire disk with an artificial one and pioneered an entirely new route for NHL players to follow. And now 3 guys have had the same one surgery.

It's not like Eichel had minor surgery, it was severe enough that he was literally traded away for fear of him not recovering properly. He missed almost an entire season after trying everything else before finally being able to have it done.

Obviously they are at different injuries on different areas of their spine but I'm not gonna worry until something actually happens. He's healthy and he's playing hockey in the most high intensity level he could be at this point.

 

[JacketsFanWest]

Game time decision on whether Lindstrom plays tonight in the first Memorial Cup game against Rimouski:

 

[ColumbusTrill]

 

[MissADD]

Do we know how similar the surgery was to Vasilevskiy's?

Vasilevskiy had his microdiscectomy surgery Sept 28, 2023, and returned to play November 24th, just two months later. He had the worst season of his career with a .900 save percentage, before bouncing back up to .921 this season.

Lindstrom was kept out much longer than that. If it was all precaution then that's great, maybe Lindstrom has a great bounceback next season in college. But I think it might have been because the surgery was more elaborate than Vasi's.

Possibly, or they were just being overly cautious and wanted to ramp things up slowly and not taking any risks with him being so young. I don't think we'll ever really know.

Plus Lindstrom play a position with way more contact and way harder contact than Vasilevskiy. Yes goalies have to deal with contact, (screens, accidental collisions from teammates and opponents) vs a forward who have to deal with not only hits from the opponent, but even has to throw the body around as well.

 

[stevo61]

Plus Lindstrom play a position with way more contact and way harder contact than Vasilevskiy. Yes goalies have to deal with contact, (screens, accidental collisions from teammates and opponents) vs a forward who have to deal with not only hits from the opponent, but even has to throw the body around as well.

And goalies are often bending, reaching, twisting, making explosive movements. Being in a crouched position for extended periods isn't exactly great on your back either.

 

[CalBuckeyeRob]

We have someone on our team who had back problems when he was younger and now he's still playing into his 30s and is our Captain...not all back injuries mean you can't play, you just have to manage them better

And some back injuries prevent you from ever reaching your true potential. At some point in the draft Lindstrom was certainly worth the risk. I dont believe you can possibly rationalize that risk at 4th overall though. Because of his back you are likely waiting 3 years to even get him to Columbus. Then it will remain to be seen if his back can withstand the stress of the NHL. Every player has some injury risk. But buying that risk that high is just wrong.

 

[CBJWerenski8]

 

[majormajor]

And some back injuries prevent you from ever reaching your true potential. At some point in the draft Lindstrom was certainly worth the risk. I dont believe you can possibly rationalize that risk at 4th overall though. Because of his back you are likely waiting 3 years to even get him to Columbus. Then it will remain to be seen if his back can withstand the stress of the NHL. Every player has some injury risk. But buying that risk that high is just wrong.

A 3+ year wait is to be expected anyways. Few prospects make a difference within a few years of the draft. Agreed on the general problem though.

 

[LJ7]

Read someone on the mains claim that he was in discomfort from a long flight. If this current plan doesn't work then in my dream world they would throw caution to the wind and take the time to work his deadlift up to 500+ lbs. His frame isn't properly fortified, but certainly could be if they prioritized it. A few NBA superstars are on this already. Steph Curry (former injury issues turned mostly healthy at highest level) deadlifted 400+ years ago and has only gotten stronger since. Strength is key to staying healthy.

Rehab aside I think he generally needs to become far sturdier in order to even play his game at the NHL level. He's critiqued for just physically dominating at the junior level, which often doesn't translate to the NHL. However he has the frame and athleticism to physically dominate the NHL as well, as long as he fills that huge frame out. My stance is he's too skinny to play how he is inclined to and that's been his problem from the start. He could play physically dominating hockey in the NHL if he was muscular enough.

Disclaimer - the rest of this post will be me talking out of my ass, due to the fact I don't know exactly how Lindstrom's pain is presenting, and what they have already tried. I'm just a guy that lifts weights and all I really have to go off of are my personal anecdotes. I haven't formally studied any of this stuff, but low back pain wise I went from consistent and painful problems (struggled to get in and out of chairs, couldn't bend over without sharp tightness) at ages 18-20ish to a 625 conventional deadlift and a 405 lbs zercher deadlift at age 23, all with a pain free back. I am not an athlete with lots of money invested in to me, so I am free to take risks and say "screw it, my back hurts anyway why not just try to lift my way out of it" with far less to lose than Lindstrom. For me it has worked. I feel very blessed to be at this point, but I don't believe it was pure luck either. Lastly I know Lindstrom's issue may be entirely different than what mine was. I don't even know what mine was anyway, I just had very bad back pain at the exact same age he's experiencing it, and after thousands of reps I can lift 405 lbs off of the ground with my elbows under the bar. Also the lift variations I will mention all pop up on Google, they're obscure but gaining popularity.

If I were put in charge of his rehab he would be doing light jefferson curls, working up to 135+ lbs for reps over time. If he can't perform those then he can't play hockey IMO. After some basic spinal erector strength and function/capability is built up then he could do some deadlift variations that feel easy on the back but build strength in "awkward"/asymmetrical positions like jefferson deadlifts (different that aforementioned J Curls), one handed deadlifts all for injury prevention, with some classic RDLs for some size and regular/trap bar deadlifts for size and explosion. All of which can be scaled properly with regard to pain, and can be safely progressed pain free. I'm talking start very light and build up very slowly.

I don't know the exact mechanisms of which disc of his was herniated, but I've seen studies claim around 35% of the population has disc herniations to some extent, obviously most of which are asymptomatic. Experiencing what I've felt in my low back I suspect I'm part of that 35%, but I've never been diagnosed so I cannot say for sure. My only firm claim I'll make in this post is that I reject the idea that it's dangerous to train the spine in a rounded or bended manner. Keeping it rigid during exercises doesn't apply to the real world. We have to bend over, twist, and move the spine in a huge range of motion throughout life (hockey players especially!!) and from what I have seen/experienced there are tremendous benefits to safely training the spine and it's supportive musculature to do all of those things.

 

[Cowumbus]

That’s not typical right?