Scout
11-19-2007, 11:25 AM
No regrets: Former 1st-rounder Blackburn moves on
Scott Cruickshank , CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, November 17, 2007
CALGARY - Separated by only Tuomo Ruutu, they had been the first two netminders taken at the 2001 National Hockey League draft.
Pascal Leclaire got nabbed eighth overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets, Dan Blackburn 10th by the New York Rangers. Which instantly made the teenagers each other's benchmarks.
A quick glance at their all-time stats last month revealed a pair of players chugging along the same career path - Blackburn with 63 NHL appearances, Leclaire with his 59.
Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth.
Leclaire, today, can stake a legitimate claim as the NHL's finest netminder.
Blackburn?
The Canmore, Alta. kid made his final big-league start more than four years ago. He was 19 at the time.
He walked away at 22.
He seems content at 24 - which might be a more momentous achievement then becoming, at 18, the everyday goalie of the Rangers.
"No, it's not bittersweet," Blackburn says. "You know what? I don't really miss it anymore - it's been such a long time. It was a chapter of my life and I'm on to the next. I'm happy for all the guys that do well. It's good to see (Leclaire) having a successful year."
Permanent nerve damage to his left shoulder - "A weight-lifting incident ... a minor training injury," is the vague description - forced him out of the game in September 2005.
But briskly - surprisingly so, enviably so - Blackburn reinvented himself.
His current life includes a home in Dallas, a job in hockey - he's manager of business development for Goaltender Development Institute (GDIhockey.com) - and, somehow, no sorrow in his heart.
"I don't have any regrets at all about what transpired or the way things happened for me," says Blackburn, who played two full seasons - 2001-02, 2002-03 - for the Blueshirts. "I really enjoy what I do now in the business world."
Blackburn is asked about his NHL road - that stunning rocket to the top - compared with Leclaire's slow and steady pace to stardom. Might the latter route be preferable?
Here, he does bristle.
"I don't think the fact that I was there (in the NHL) had anything to do with my injury," says Blackburn. "From that standpoint, I thank God that I was in the league, that I was making the money that I was making, that I was able to put the insurance in place when I did ... or I'd be at this point now - with nothing.
"From my point of view, I was really fortunate, even though I was only there for a couple of years.
"It really set up the rest of my life for all the things that I want to do, from there on out."
Hurtling himself into life after hockey - buoyed by a reported $6-million insurance payout - Blackburn enrolled at Arizona State University.
His "educational game plan" included studying architecture.
But a year ago, Ian Clark - founder of GDI (and goalie coach of the Vancouver Canucks) - brought Blackburn on board.
An umbrella group for goalie coaches and schools, GDI is building a Calgary training facility, which is set to open next month.
"I'm overseeing the entire construction project," says Blackburn. "It's a bit of a new gig for me. I'm learning as I go."
Which makes Blackburn no different than any other 20-something jumping into the cluttered business world. Except that, once upon a time, this chap was the toast of Broadway.
These days, his athletic feats are confined to daily workouts. The shoulder doesn't even bother him.
But when the topic of a possible return to the crease is floated, he's short. "Never," says Blackburn. "I doubt I will ever put goalie pads on again. I don't have interest in playing net."
Besides, he's already travelled down the comeback trail with his attempt late in 2004-05, the lockout season.
After nearly two years without game action, he'd joined the ECHL Victoria Salmon Kings. Sporting two blockers - his left shoulder couldn't accommodate the range of motion needed for a trapper - Blackburn suited up a dozen times for the slumping outfit. ("Obviously, we've been struggling," skipper Bryan Maxwell groused then. "I thought he'd be much-needed with no blockers to be honest with you. He could go out with two catchers. I could care less.")
"A last effort by me to try to find a way to play around my disability," Blackburn says of the Victoria experiment.
Blackburn did show up for Rangers camp in 2005, then, anti-climactically, retired two weeks later.
"It was difficult, but not as difficult as you would think," he says. "I was almost relieved ... to have put that situation past me. Having that hang over you for two years is a lot on your nerves. So, just to have some closure was really nice."
Despite having come to terms with the reality of an NHL-free existence, Blackburn still misses hockey.
"That satisfaction after a really good game - the big sense of accomplishment after you've had a great game," he says. "Obviously, you don't get the same level of excitement out of sitting behind a desk for eight hours a day."
Especially with Blackburn who had no shortage of thrills.
His 2000-01 season with the Kootenay Ice was so bright, Blackburn was the Canadian Hockey League's goaltender of the year.
The following winter, he was a celebrity in Manhattan, and good enough to earn a spot on the NHL's all-rookie squad.
Vivid for him still is that first win - a 2-1 decision Oct. 15, 2001, over Jose Theodore and the home-ice Montreal Canadiens. The feat made him the third-youngest goalie in league history to record a triumph.
"My mom and dad were both there. I got first star," recalls Blackburn. "It couldn't have been more storybook."
Calgary Herald
Scott Cruickshank , CanWest News Service
Published: Saturday, November 17, 2007
CALGARY - Separated by only Tuomo Ruutu, they had been the first two netminders taken at the 2001 National Hockey League draft.
Pascal Leclaire got nabbed eighth overall by the Columbus Blue Jackets, Dan Blackburn 10th by the New York Rangers. Which instantly made the teenagers each other's benchmarks.
A quick glance at their all-time stats last month revealed a pair of players chugging along the same career path - Blackburn with 63 NHL appearances, Leclaire with his 59.
Nothing, of course, could be further from the truth.
Leclaire, today, can stake a legitimate claim as the NHL's finest netminder.
Blackburn?
The Canmore, Alta. kid made his final big-league start more than four years ago. He was 19 at the time.
He walked away at 22.
He seems content at 24 - which might be a more momentous achievement then becoming, at 18, the everyday goalie of the Rangers.
"No, it's not bittersweet," Blackburn says. "You know what? I don't really miss it anymore - it's been such a long time. It was a chapter of my life and I'm on to the next. I'm happy for all the guys that do well. It's good to see (Leclaire) having a successful year."
Permanent nerve damage to his left shoulder - "A weight-lifting incident ... a minor training injury," is the vague description - forced him out of the game in September 2005.
But briskly - surprisingly so, enviably so - Blackburn reinvented himself.
His current life includes a home in Dallas, a job in hockey - he's manager of business development for Goaltender Development Institute (GDIhockey.com) - and, somehow, no sorrow in his heart.
"I don't have any regrets at all about what transpired or the way things happened for me," says Blackburn, who played two full seasons - 2001-02, 2002-03 - for the Blueshirts. "I really enjoy what I do now in the business world."
Blackburn is asked about his NHL road - that stunning rocket to the top - compared with Leclaire's slow and steady pace to stardom. Might the latter route be preferable?
Here, he does bristle.
"I don't think the fact that I was there (in the NHL) had anything to do with my injury," says Blackburn. "From that standpoint, I thank God that I was in the league, that I was making the money that I was making, that I was able to put the insurance in place when I did ... or I'd be at this point now - with nothing.
"From my point of view, I was really fortunate, even though I was only there for a couple of years.
"It really set up the rest of my life for all the things that I want to do, from there on out."
Hurtling himself into life after hockey - buoyed by a reported $6-million insurance payout - Blackburn enrolled at Arizona State University.
His "educational game plan" included studying architecture.
But a year ago, Ian Clark - founder of GDI (and goalie coach of the Vancouver Canucks) - brought Blackburn on board.
An umbrella group for goalie coaches and schools, GDI is building a Calgary training facility, which is set to open next month.
"I'm overseeing the entire construction project," says Blackburn. "It's a bit of a new gig for me. I'm learning as I go."
Which makes Blackburn no different than any other 20-something jumping into the cluttered business world. Except that, once upon a time, this chap was the toast of Broadway.
These days, his athletic feats are confined to daily workouts. The shoulder doesn't even bother him.
But when the topic of a possible return to the crease is floated, he's short. "Never," says Blackburn. "I doubt I will ever put goalie pads on again. I don't have interest in playing net."
Besides, he's already travelled down the comeback trail with his attempt late in 2004-05, the lockout season.
After nearly two years without game action, he'd joined the ECHL Victoria Salmon Kings. Sporting two blockers - his left shoulder couldn't accommodate the range of motion needed for a trapper - Blackburn suited up a dozen times for the slumping outfit. ("Obviously, we've been struggling," skipper Bryan Maxwell groused then. "I thought he'd be much-needed with no blockers to be honest with you. He could go out with two catchers. I could care less.")
"A last effort by me to try to find a way to play around my disability," Blackburn says of the Victoria experiment.
Blackburn did show up for Rangers camp in 2005, then, anti-climactically, retired two weeks later.
"It was difficult, but not as difficult as you would think," he says. "I was almost relieved ... to have put that situation past me. Having that hang over you for two years is a lot on your nerves. So, just to have some closure was really nice."
Despite having come to terms with the reality of an NHL-free existence, Blackburn still misses hockey.
"That satisfaction after a really good game - the big sense of accomplishment after you've had a great game," he says. "Obviously, you don't get the same level of excitement out of sitting behind a desk for eight hours a day."
Especially with Blackburn who had no shortage of thrills.
His 2000-01 season with the Kootenay Ice was so bright, Blackburn was the Canadian Hockey League's goaltender of the year.
The following winter, he was a celebrity in Manhattan, and good enough to earn a spot on the NHL's all-rookie squad.
Vivid for him still is that first win - a 2-1 decision Oct. 15, 2001, over Jose Theodore and the home-ice Montreal Canadiens. The feat made him the third-youngest goalie in league history to record a triumph.
"My mom and dad were both there. I got first star," recalls Blackburn. "It couldn't have been more storybook."
Calgary Herald