Blackhawks forward Hall to have season ending surgery

*Photo from the Chicago Sun-Times*

   Thanksgiving wasn't so great for everyone. Chicago Blackhawks left wing Taylor Hall is expected to miss the remainder of the season with a right knee injury, according to head coach Luke Richardson.

   According to Richardson, Hall has an injury to his ACL that requires surgery, thus ending his season. He was in the midst of his first season with the Blackhawks after he was acquired from the Boston Bruins over the offseason in exchange for Ian Mitchell and Alec Regula.

   Hall initially injured his knee on November 9 against the Tampa Bay Lightning after a collision on the boards. He missed the next two games before returning for a back to back against the Nashville Predators and Buffalo Sabres over the weekend. He then missed Chicago's game on Wednesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

   The new season for Hall is over after just 10 games in the lineup. Since joining the team, he has two goals and two assists for 4 points, posting a -3 rating while averaging 16:20 of ice time per game, with one of his goals being a game winner.

   Blackhawks forward Nick Foligno said that "I know what kind of player he is, and it just stinks that he really couldn’t get going with the injuries. We feel for him. He’s a guy that was really excited about the opportunity he has here. In the long run, this will probably be the best thing for him, because you’re going to get a healthy and motivated version of Taylor Hall, which I think is going to be very scary in a lot of ways. But it hurts."

   This season has been a struggle injury wise for Hall. In the second game of the season, Hall sustained a shoulder injury in Chicago's second game of the year. He returned fairly quickly but then wound up on IR after reaggravating the injury.

   Hall is expected to be placed on LTIR by the Blackhawks to give them an additional $6 million in cap space. The Blackhawks also placed Andreas Athanasiou on IR retroactive to November 9 with a groin injury and called up forwards Joey Anderson and Cole Guttman from AHL Rockford.