He missed the final ten games of the season after he was struck in the back of the neck by a slapshot during a game in Minnesota. The injury resulted in spinal cord damage that kept Langkow out of the lineup for the first 78 games of the 2010–11 NHL season. His efforts to return to the Flames lineup suffered a setback in late October, after which a Flames official stated it was a "50/50 proposition" on whether he would ever play another NHL game.