DETROIT -- In an emotional address to his teammates, Red Wings forward Erik Cole announced his season was over -- and his career is in jeopardy -- after another serious neck injury.
Cole, 36, the left wing acquired by Detroit from Dallas at the March 2 trade deadline, sustained the injury in a collision near the goal in a game against Arizona on March 24.
"I bruised my spinal cord," Cole told reporters after Wednesday's skate. "A spinal contusion is something is a pretty serious occurrence ... I know the risk involved, since I had my neck broken (in 2006).
"It's just disappointing right now. It's hard to look past that at this point. Hopefully, it'll get better here in the next week, with the guys winning a couple of big games for us. Getting into the playoffs will be easier to focus on other things."
Needing one more victory to advance to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the 24th straight season, the Wings travel to Montreal for a game Thursday and close out the regular season at Carolina on Saturday.
Cole said he was feeling well after undergoing physical therapy in the days after the collision, when he was hit awkwardly and his head snapped to the side. In fact, he was preparing to play on March 31 against Ottawa when he got a call the night before informing him that there were some "underlying things that still needed to be discussed."
In other words, doctors weren't ready to clear him to play. What worried medics, Cole said, was when he told them that immediately after he was hit he felt a tingling sensation that went down both arms into his hands.
"When it goes down both sides of your body, that indicates a spinal cord (injury)," he said. "If it goes down just one side, it's more of a pinched nerve or something like that. The fact that it was bilateral means that it's something I have to be a lot more careful of."
Cole sought a second opinion from another physician, who confirmed the prognosis.
"I kind of had the rug pulled out from under me," he said, adding that considering his medical history, he didn't argue with his doctors.
On March 4, 2006, while playing for Carolina, Cole suffered a fractured vertebra in his neck in a collision with Pittsburgh defenseman Brooks Orpik. Cole then missed all but the last two games of Carolina's run to a Stanley Cup title.
About 18 months later, he slid head first into into Florida Panthers goalie Tomas Vokoun. Cole lay face down on the ice for several minutes before he was taken off the ice on a stretcher. That injury was scary, but not serious.
This one, however, is.
"It's really disappointing," he said. "I was really looking forward helping this team make a run for the Cup, and I'm not able to do that. But this is a serious occurrence and something that I need to think about regarding my well-being as a person, not just a hockey player."
Slotted as a top-six forward from the moment he arrived, Cole had three goals among six points in 11 games for the Wings. In 57 games with Dallas before the trade, he had 18 goals and 33 points.
"It's obviously hard for him," coach Mike Babcock said. "When he addressed the team, it was very emotional. He's got kids. He has to make life decisions.
"I don't know if this means he's done for the season or done for good, but when you love doing something and it's your passion and it's taken away from you, it's hard.
"That's why you have to enjoy every second when you have good health. Health is everything. And it's a message to our guys here to embrace every opportunity you have."
Cole isn't sure what lies ahead. He'll be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, and there was talk that Detroit's management liked what they saw in him enough to consider trying to re-sign him.
Now all bets are off as he rests and gets re-evaluated in the off-season.
"At my age and my stage in my career, I wasn't expecting too many big offers coming across the table," Cole said. "That's the least of my worries. Right now, it's about being a healthy individual, worrying about my future being, being able to play with my kids and things like that."
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