-Vintage Canuck- Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Appeared in 31 games for Philadelphia over three years; will join the OHL Oshawa coaching staff: A gruesome skate cut ended Eric Wellwood’s playing career, but kickstarted another one. On Thursday, the former Philadelphia forward announced his retirement at age 24, but also announced he’d be joining the coaching staff of the OHL’s Oshawa Generals. Here’s more, from the Windsor Star: “I knew for a while I wasn’t going to play,” said Wellwood, who was introduced Thursday at the [Oshawa] team banquet. “I didn’t tell anybody because I didn’t want to deal with it. I knew a long time ago I was done playing, I just didn’t know what I was going to do after the fact.” A two-time Memorial Cup champion, Wellwood was drafted in the sixth round of the 2009 NHL Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers and appeared in 31 regular-season games and 11 playoff games with the club over three seasons. When he made the decision to not continue playing, the Flyers offered him a position in the organization. “I had a job offer with the Flyers before D.J. [smith, Oshawa's head coach] talked to me,” Wellwood said. “I didn’t take it because I didn’t want to make a decision so early and it worked out great. “It was a player development and assistant coach job with the [AHL] Phantoms, but it wasn’t on the bench and the one thing I wanted to do is be behind the bench.” In April 2013, Wellwood suffered a severe skate laceration to his ankle during an AHL game, one that sliced tendons and cut an artery in his calf, resulting in a “skate filled with blood.” He underwent two surgeries to try and repair his Achilles tendon — which was 70 percent severed — and three other tendons that were “completely severed,” per the Philadelphia Daily News. http://prohockeytalk.nbcsports.com/2014/05/30/ex-flyer-wellwood-severed-achilles-announces-retirement/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
babych Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 feel bad for the guy - very unfortunate accident Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mimerez Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 Always sucks when players have to retire at such a young age. Bad luck Wellwood Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Grimes Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 I'd just heard about this in that status update from c00kies. Awful news; To echo what I said there; I thought he was a promising bottom-middle 6 prospect I've attached an old video from the Flyers website from the first weeks of his rehab, my god what a brutal injury. http://video.flyers.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=250635 It's not the actual injury, it's nasty lookin' stuff though, you've been warned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Vintage Canuck- Posted May 30, 2014 Author Share Posted May 30, 2014 For those wondering, yes, he is the younger brother of Kyle Wellwood who also retired last year in October. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baka Posted May 30, 2014 Share Posted May 30, 2014 That sucks. I always liked Eric. He was an incredibly fast skater who immediately had his name floating around in the debate of fastest skaters in the NHL despite playing so few games. Could have been a dangerous homerun hitter on a lower 6 line. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jiggs50 Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 That sucks. I always liked Eric. He was an incredibly fast skater who immediately had his name floating around in the debate of fastest skaters in the NHL despite playing so few games. Could have been a dangerous homerun hitter on a lower 6 line. This. He would of been a pretty good player. I wish him the best in his new career! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hockeyville88 Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 That's really tough. Wasn't he touted to be better than Kyle? Tough luck for both Wellwood brothers. Kyle didn't really live up to potential either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tearloch7 Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Sad news .. wish him well .. I like how 'hockey' steps up to help its own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coconuts Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Wow, that's an unfortunate injury. It's a shame his playing career had to end while he was so young, but I wish him all the best going forward with his new profession! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeanBeef Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 Wondered what happened to him, looked to become a solid bottom 6 player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baka Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 That's really tough. Wasn't he touted to be better than Kyle? Tough luck for both Wellwood brothers. Kyle didn't really live up to potential either. Nah Kyle's offensive abilities gave him a higher ceiling than Eric. They were an interesting pair though as they were literally polar opposites of each other. Eric was known for being athletically gifted, a great skater, and an extremely hard worker on and off the ice. He could handle himself well defensively and never took shifts or plays off, he would throw hits and block shots, etc. But Eric didn't have much offensive ability, nothing special shot, no real sense of the play or vision to set up his teammates. When he scored it was often because he simply outworked the opponent. If they could combined Eric's drive and determination to Kyle's abilities it would have made one sick player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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