The NHLPA announced this morning that Nashville Predators goaltender Connor Ingram has voluntarily entered the NHL/NHLPA player assistance program. He will be away from the team indefinitely.
NHL/NHLPA Media Release Regarding @PredsNHL Goaltender Connor Ingram. https://t.co/iPo114nh8X pic.twitter.com/9XTNxG1dMh
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 25, 2021
Ingram Takes Leave from Predators
The Tampa Bay Lightning drafted Ingram 88th overall in 2016. Signing a three-year entry-level contract with the Lightning, Ingram made his professional debut with the Syracuse Crunch in October of 2017. He spent much of the 2018-19 season split between the Crunch and the Lightning’s ECHL affiliate, the Orlando Solar Bears. An AHL All-Star, Ingram recorded a .922 save percentage and a 2.26 goals-against-average with the Crunch. During the 2019 offseason, the Nashville Predators announced they had acquired Ingram in exchange for a seventh-round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
After signing a three-year contract with the Predators, Ingram played the 2019-2020 season with their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. After recording the best statistical season of his career with the Admirals, the Predators announced that they were loaning him to Bjorkloven IF, a team in Sweden’s second-highest professional league. He played nine games in Sweden. Assigned to the Predators taxi squad just weeks ago, he is the club’s mandatory third goalie. As such, he traveled with the team. The 23-year-old, Saskatoon native had yet to appear in an NHL game.
Going Forward
Launched in 1996, the NHL’s player assistance program is a confidential program that provides players and their families with mental health and substance abuse support. The only time an announcement is made by the NHL and the NHLPA is if a player has taken a leave of absence from their team, as is the case with Connor Ingram.
Many players have come back out of the player assistance program to play in the NHL again. Ottawa Senators winger Bobby Ryan scored a hat-trick in his first game back from the program. Hopefully, Ingram receives the support he needs and returns to make his NHL debut.
