Calvin de Haan Dislocated Shoulder: Out for season

Well this is very depressing, very bad news for a top New York Islanders prospect: Calvin de Haan has suffered another shoulder injury, and this time the Bridgeport Sound Tigers say he's out for the season.

The official prognosis is a dislocate left shoulder, suffered in the waning minutes of Saturday's 3-2 win over the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. The incident was one of those sequences that looked "innocent enough" and yet judging by his immediate reaction you had to fear the worst.

De Haan has suffered from shoulder injuries -- on both sides -- in three of the past four seasons now. After a hard summer of work to get ready for this season and make a play for one of the NHL openings with the Islanders, he instead began the season without that chance thanks to the NHL lockout.

Now, the disappointment is doubled. His route is delayed once again. And though Mark Streit and Lubomir Visnovsky are each in the final years of their contracts, the Islanders prospect pipeline is teeming with blueline hopefuls.

Last season and early this, de Haan was part of a reliable blueline partnership with Ty Wishart, rounding out the game for a prospect who most saw as more of an offensive defenseman back on his draft day in 2009.

Inevitably, this brings to mind names like Tim Kerr or Brian Sutter or (insert chronic shoulder issues from your era of choice here, as I'm clearly dating myself). Really tough news for the kid. And makes you wonder what -- be it more strength, or better luck -- can keep his shoulders from failing him once again.