Chicago Blackhawks forward Taylor Hall will undergo surgery on his right knee and is expected to miss the rest of the season. Here’s what you need to know:
- Hall injured his knee on November 9 against the Tampa Bay Lightning when he was hit by forward Michael Essimont late in the third period. Hall immediately screamed, grabbed his leg, and then went to the locker room.
- The 32-year-old has two goals and two assists in 10 games for the Blackhawks this season.
- Hall missed nine days and returned on November 18 to play two more games before Chicago kept him home for a Wednesday road trip to Columbus for evaluation.
- Forward Corey Perry also did not play against the Blue Jackets, with the Blackhawks calling his scratch an “organizational” decision. The club did not provide further details.
How big of a blow is this for the Blackhawks?
Hall was brought in specifically to be Connor Bedard’s left wing, giving the 18-year-old phenom a highly skilled player she can match. But because of Hall’s multiple injuries this season (he missed five games with a shoulder injury suffered in Boston in the second game of the season), the two No. 1s haven’t spent all that much time together.
The good news for the Blackhawks is that Bedard has seemingly found two worthy teammates in Lukas Reichel and Filip Kurashev, a trio that has found quick chemistry together in the past two games. The bad news is that there is precious little scoring from the rest of the lineup. With Hall out for the season, Andreas Athanasiou went to injured reserve and Corey Perry was scratched for “regulatory” reasons Wednesday night in Columbus. An already offensively challenged Blackhawks team will struggle to score goals beyond that top line. -Mark Lazerus, Blackhawks senior writer
What does this mean for Hall?
Hall looked at the trade as an opportunity to prove he could become a top player again in this league. The 2017-18 Hart Trophy winner has found a niche role in Boston, but the Blackhawks have offered him a chance to play big minutes on the top line and power play unit again, and perhaps earn another big contract after his current one expires. After next season.
Now he will only have next year to prove it, and he will do so after major knee surgery and likely without Bedard as a teammate. It’s a tough blow for the Blackhawks, but it’s especially tough for Hall. -Lazer
Who can enter the hall?
Nobody, probably. Not at his level. But the Blackhawks recalled Cole Gutman and Joey Anderson from Rockford in the wake of the news. Guttman began the season as the Blackhawks’ third-line center and is still viewed as a potential part of the future. He had four goals in just 14 games last season in his first NHL stint. Anderson is 25 years old, but is off to a hot start in Rockford, scoring seven goals and nine assists in 14 games. — Lazer
What the team said about Perry
“We’ll keep that internal to the organization for now,” coach Luke Richardson said of the decision to exclude Perry from Wednesday’s game. “I won’t be able to answer any more questions about this.”
Fellow forward Nick Foligno called Perry’s scratch “unfortunate” and said, “We didn’t really get any other information.”
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(Photo: Danielle Bartel/USA Today)
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