Chicago Blackhawks forward Taylor Hall will undergo right knee surgery and is expected to miss the rest of the season. Here’s what you need to know:
- Hall injured his knee on Nov. 9 against the Tampa Bay Lightning when he was hit by forward Michael Eyssimont late in the third period. Hall immediately yelled, grabbed his leg and then went to the locker room.
- The 32-year-old has two goals and two assists in 10 games with the Blackhawks this season.
- Hall missed nine days and returned on Nov. 18 to play two more games before Chicago kept him home on Wednesday’s road trip to Columbus to be evaluated.
- Forward Corey Perry also didn’t play against the Blue Jackets, with the Blackhawks calling his scratch an “organizational” decision. The club didn’t provide further details.
How big a blow is this for the Blackhawks?
Hall was brought in specifically to be Connor Bedard’s left wing, to give the 18-year-old phenom a player with a high-end skill that could keep up with him. 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. 1 picks hadn’t spent all that much time together.
The good news for the Blackhawks is Bedard appears to have found two worthy linemates in Lukas Reichel and Philipp Kurashev, a trio that has found quick chemistry together the past couple of games. The bad news is, there’s precious little scoring punch from the rest of the lineup. With Hall out for the season, Andreas Athanasiou moved to injured reserve and Corey Perry was mysteriously scratched for “organizational” reasons Wednesday night in Columbus. The already offensively challenged Blackhawks will struggle to score 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 be a top player again in this league. The 2017-18 Hart Trophy winner had found a nice role in Boston, but the Blackhawks offered him a chance to play big minutes on the top line and top power-play unit again, and maybe earn one more big contract after his current one expires after next season.
Now he’ll only have next year to prove that, and he’ll be doing it coming off major knee surgery and likely without Bedard as a linemate. It’s a brutal blow for the Blackhawks, but a particularly cruel one for Hall. — Lazerus
Who can step in for Hall?
Nobody, probably. Not at his level. But the Blackhawks recalled Cole Guttman and Joey Anderson from Rockford in the wake of the news. Guttman started the season as the Blackhawks’ third-line center and is still seen as a potential part of the future. He had four goals in just 14 games last season in his first NHL stint. Anderson is a 25-year-old journeyman but has had a great start in Rockford, with seven goals and nine assists in 14 games. — Lazerus
What the team said about Perry
“We’re going to keep that internal in the organization right now,” coach Luke Richardson said about the decision to scratch Perry from Wednesday’s game. “I’m not going to be able to answer any more questions on that.”
Fellow forward Nick Foligno called Perry’s scratch “unfortunate” and said, “we haven’t really gotten any other information.”
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(Photo: Daniel Bartel / USA Today)
