Montreal Canadiens: Brampton Forward David Ling’s Time in the Habs’ System
By Austin Owens
Brampton Beast player David Ling is coming to the tail end of a career that has spanned two decades and two continents.
David Ling walks out of the Brampton Beast’s (Montreal Canadiens ECHL Affiliate) locker room at the Powerade Centre with youthful enthusiasm. He still has his skates, and hockey pants on, and is sporting a smile that is missing two front teeth (A sight that has become all too familiar with fans). The man affectionately referred to as “Linger” is trying to enjoy all the time he has left playing professional hockey.
From his days in junior, Ling showed that he had the ability to score goals and mix it up from time to time.
His career with the Kingston Frontenacs saw him rack up 275 points and 665 penalty minutes over three seasons. In his final year, Ling scored 135 points, more than 40 points more than the team’s second leading scorer.
Ling credits his Junior A. coach, Forbes Kennedy, for teaching him to add grit to his game.
“He taught me there were more ways to impress a coach and stick up for your teammates and get ice time, which would carry over to getting room on the ice,” Ling said. “I was a small guy. So it was, one, survival to show I was bigger than my 5’9” stature, and two, proving that I could mix it up with the bigger guys.”
Ling said that when he was trying to break into the pros, players who were under six-feet didn’t even get looked at, so he had to prove his detractors wrong.
“I wish I might’ve come into the game in a different era, but that’s what had to be done at the time,” he said.
The Quebec Nordiques took Ling in the seventh round of the 1993 draft. After the Nordiques relocated to Colorado, the newly minted Avalanche moved Ling to Calgary in order to move up in the ninth round of the 1995 entry draft.
Ling was traded twice more. In 1996, he was shipped to Montreal for a 1998 sixth-round pick, and then in 1998, Montreal moved the forward to Chicago for Martin Gendron.
Ling spent the majority of his early years in the AHL. In that time, he played for the Saint John Flames and Fredericton Canadiens.
In 1997, Ling moved down to the IHL. He spent the next three seasons there before the NHL came calling again.
The Columbus Blue Jackets signed Ling to a contract in the summer of 2001. When he joined the team, he had one specific role.
“Jody Shelley and I were told if anyone goes after the rookies, especially Rick Nash, you’d at least have to go and rub shoulders with them. So there were three or four guys I had to fight for hitting Rick Nash,” he said. “Those are the ones you get a pat on the back from the organization for helping out their superstars.”
Ling spent another two seasons in Columbus, notching eight points in 85 games.
In 2005, Ling decided to go overseas. He signed with Spartak Moscow in the KHL. He was the leading scorer for Spartak with 33 points and 40 penalty minutes. The next season, he moved to another side of the Capital City Derbies, signing with rival Dynamo Moscow.
Ling described his first two years living in Russia as dangerous.
“Going to the store for milk was always a stressful thing because you never knew what was coming. It was an interesting experience,” he said.
After spending time in Switzerland, Finland, Russia (again), and Italy, Ling went to England in 2012. At the time, he was 37 and starting to think about life after hockey. While playing for the Nottingham Panthers, Ling went to school at the University of Derby to get an MBA degree. Ling completed his degree in 2014 and quit hockey to work for the Liquor Commission in Prince Edward Island.
Although he was treated well at his desk job, he said he never stopped thinking about hockey.
“I was training, I was retired – kind of, in my brain – but I was training, in case something happened.”
That something came in 2014. The Brampton Beast came calling. Ling signed a contract and joined Brampton mid-season. He scored 17 points in 26 games and had 47 penalty minutes in the process.
In 2015, the beast introduced Colin Chaulk as their Head Coach. Chaulk was meeting many of his players for the first time, but not Ling. While Ling was leading the Frontenacs in scoring in his final year, Chaulk was making a name for himself in his first season of junior.
The Beast coach said that when he started meeting with his players, Ling was one of the first he sat down with.
More from Editorials
- Montreal Canadiens: Senators Rebuild At Crisis Point As Kent Hughes Moves Forward
- Montreal Canadiens: Jonathan Drouin Continues Charity Work In Montreal After Leaving Habs
- Montreal Canadiens: Laval Rocket Lineup Going To Be Must Watch
- Montreal Canadiens: Jesse Ylönen Contract Extension Analysis
- Montreal Canadiens: Top 31 Prospects – #31 Quentin Miller
“I said to him ‘Listen I’m not 17 anymore, if we’re going to do this, we need to make sure we can handle this.’ But you have to give them the respect,” Chaulk said. “You have to show them that respect privately, and you have to show them that respect in front of the team as well.”
Ling has even made an impression on some of the veteran players on the team. Beast captain Brandon Marino said that Ling has lent a hand to anyone in the locker room that may have questions about anything to do with hockey.
“If David doesn’t know the answer to a question, he knows someone who does. Guys respect where he’s been, and the fact that he’s still playing just shows his love for the game,” Marino said.
When asked whether he thinks he can play till 50, like Jaromir Jagr has stated he wants to do, Ling smiled and shrugged.
“He’s playing a different style and making different money, I’d love to play till I’m 50 but my body – I’m starting to get older,” he said.
No matter the age, the veteran forward is still having fun playing hockey. He became a viral hit of sorts when a video emerged of him water skiing behind a Zamboni in England.
Ling said that he’d like to possibly become a scout when he retires. Until then, he’ll continue to come to practice, and teach the skills and knowledge he’s compiled over his career.
Now, 20 years after he first joined the Montreal organization as a 21-year-old, the now 42-year-old Ling is still in love with the game he’s known for so long.
“I love playing and it’s part of my life. It’s going to come to an end sometime, but you might as well keep going till you can’t play anymore.”