Blackhawks Taylor Hall Close To Skating Again

Hall, the 2017-18 Hart Trophy winner isn't expected to play until next season, but he appears ready to return to the ice following right ACL surgery in November.

Taylor Hall, the 2017-18 Hart Trophy winner the Chicago Blackhawks acquired to help support rookie Connor Bedard, is close to skating again.

Hall last played on Nov. 19 against Buffalo, then underwent season-ending right ACL surgery about a week later. On Thursday, some of Hall's gear was back in the Blackhawks practice facility dressing room and coach Luke Richardson said the 32-year-old forward should be easing back on to the ice.

"He said he's feeling really good." Richardson said. "He'll probably have to start off in a brace, but I think he said he was probably going to go with out one after (a while.)

"He looks like he's in a great mood. Great shape. If he's totally healthy (next) year, that hopefully will propel him to show that he can be in top form again in this league... and that just helps us." See video.

Hall came to Chicago from the Boston Bruins with Nick Foligno in a trade on June 26, two days before the Blackhawks made Bedard the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.

Hall's knee apparently was injured late in a game at Tampa Bay on Nov. 9 in a collision with Michael Eyssimont. Hall left the ice hobbling, but returned for two games, on Nov. 18 and 19, before surgery.

On Thursday, however, Richardson suggested Hall first injured the knee last season with Boston during the Bruins' record-setting run to the President's Trophy. Hall missed six weeks from late February to early April 2023 with a "lower-body injury."

Richardson hinted Hall was trying to play through knee instability last season. With 65 wins and 135 points, the Bruins looked like a Stanley Cup juggernaut before they were stunned by Florida in the opening playoff round, 4 games to 3.

"He had a determination for sure," Richardson said. "Knowing he wanted to get to the playoffs last year and not probably properly fix that knee, take that long surgery and what he had to do because they had a special thing going in Boston."

Hall trained hard over the summer to keep his career on a roll with Chicago. The NHL's top draft pick in 2010 was expected to be a top offensive producer and wanted prove he had plenty left in tank heading into his 14th season.

Hall, now 32, figured to have no worse than a top-six forward slot with the Blackhawks and more than the 15:56 of ice time per game he got with the deep Bruins last season. He posted 16 goals and 20 assists in 61 games with Boston.

But Richardson added Hall might have known "going into this season that it could be an issue, if he got the wrong hit, which he did."

Hall settled for two goals and two assists in 10 games with Chicago. He started the season on left wing on a line with Bedard, the NHL's rookie scoring leader.

Hall's training has helped him bounce back quickly from the surgery, Richardson said. The forward posted his recovery workouts on Instagram.

Hall was a logical veteran to help Bedard, the No. 1 draft pick of 2023.

That was based on Hall's own experience as an 18-year-old rookie with Edmonton, as well as helping another No. 1 selection, New Jersey's Nico Hischier, transition successfully to the NHL. The two skated together and clicked with the Devils starting in 2017 for about two-and-a-half seasons.

In 2017-18, Hall won the Hart while recording a career-high 39 goals and 93 points alongside Hischier. 

"Nico was kind of a blessing for me that year," Hall said at the start of the 2023-24 campaign in Chicago. "To have a young guy come in and play center and have that youthful speed and that transition game that Nico is really good at was great for me.

"Obviously I had a really successful season. So did our team."

A similar script in Chicago seemed to be set. Richardson said the loss of Hall was one of the most devastating for his injury-depleted team this season.

"It's a big loss, obviously, for us," Richardson said Thursday. "And for a guys like Connor Bedard playing with him. Not just 5-on-5, but the views on the power play and the way we kind of struggled at times this year entering on the power play. 

"With (Hall), it was like automatic when he was in New Jersey and places when he was really going. We lost that."  See video.