SALT LAKE CITY — It’s understandable if Taylor Hall’s turning point was overshadowed by flashier story lines wrapped up in the Chicago Blackhawks kicking off the season with a historic first game for the Utah Hockey Club.
It feels like Hall’s been around a minute, but he played just his 11th game with the Hawks and his first since a home game against the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 19, 2023.
In an interview with the Tribune, Hall acknowledged that before suffering a torn ACL in his right knee finally ended his season in November, he exacerbated knee and shoulder injuries by trying to play through them because he felt the pressure — pressure he put on himself — not to appear injury-prone as a newcomer to the team.
A knob sits on his left shoulder — like a bone trying to break through his skin — as a reminder.
It doesn’t limit him now, “but you can see it,” Hall said, rubbing the pointy bulge on top of the shoulder.
“It was a grade three Grade 3 (AC sprain),” he said. “It was a bit worse of an injury than I initially thought and probably needed more time off than I took. But I was in a tough spot. I was with a new team, and you don’t want to get injured the second game and miss a bunch of games, so I probably came back a tad early, and the injury was worse than what I was kind of told.”
Boston Bruins defenseman Brandon Carlo hit Hall in the Hawks’ second game of the 2023-24 season. He missed the third game in Montreal but he played in the next three.
The Hawks placed Hall on injured reserve Oct. 24, and at the time, coach Luke Richardson said Hall was upgraded from initially week-to-week to day-to-day.
In fact, Richardson said at the time that Hall told him that “he’s a quick healer.”
Added Richardson: “Anything quicker is better than longer for us because I thought he had a good start (to the season) for us. He hasn’t scored a goal, but he’s contributed a lot on goals and playing hard and physical.”
Hall missed the next three games and returned for a Nov. 4 matchup against the Florida Panthers.
In fact, he scored a goal in that game and another in the following game against the New Jersey Devils, but he acknowledged that he probably came back too soon. He thought because of the nature of position as a winger, he could play with it.
“If a quarterback had this (injury) on his throwing shoulder, he’d probably be out a few weeks,” he said. “But as a hockey player, your bottom hand, you can kind of get away with it. It’s not your main hand, right?
“And I’m not a guy that takes faceoffs traditionally, so you can kind of get away with it here and there. But I should have just taken maybe a week more to let it heal last year.”
In the next game, Nov. 9 in Tampa Bay, Fla., he hurt his knee after taking a hit from the Lightning’s Michael Eyssimont. He missed the next two games but played against the Nashville Predators and Sabres as part of a back-to-back.
At that point, the knee required surgery, and he missed the rest of the season.
Hall chose to look at the bright side.
“I had to do some (procedure) obviously with the knee, I had a lot of time off, so I did a lot of rehab on (the shoulder), and I don’t have any limitations at all anymore,” he said.
Hall said he doesn’t believe he was misdiagnosed by team physicians.
“It’s tough to know,” Hall said. “There was a lot of swelling (in the shoulder), and when you get an MRI, it showed it was a Grade 2, but it probably just got worse after playing with it, and after everything settles down, it just became a little bit worse.
“So I probably need some more time off, but I wanted to play. I’m with a new team, and I want to just get out there and help the group as best I can. But sometimes when you’re hurt, you’re hurt, and you’ve got to remember that.”
He said his knee feels “100%” healthy now.
“I don’t have any limitations in the gym,” he said. “I played soccer with the guys before the game. I don’t wear a brace or anything, I just wear a little small knee sleeve, so I’m good to go there. The only thing is just monitoring, just load. When you start skating four, five, six days in a row in the first year after an ACL surgery, I think it’s important just to monitor that.
“Not that there’s anything wrong, not that there’s soreness. It’s just you don’t want it to become sore. You don’t want anything to start creeping up.”
He said the main issue is just getting used to game speed again.
“I’ve been off for 10 months,” he said. “I didn’t expect to be like 120,000% flying right off the bat, but I think I’m in a really good place.”
Last season, Hall was slotted as Connor Bedard’s linemate and on-ice mentor, but Hall’s injuries cost them that time.
“It just sucks for him last year that he missed the time,” Bedard told the Tribune. “I guess you could think about that (not building chemistry), but we’re not focused on that right now. He’s healthy. He looks really good.
“It was awesome seeing him at camp. And obviously last game, he had a great game. So it’s just awesome getting to have him and fun being able to see him, see him healthy, and see him happy in the (locker) room.”
Richardson said he has bonded with Hall off the ice.
“I chat with him lots,” Richardson said. “He’s got great ideas and suggestions with his experience. On the ice, I think he’s just starting to find his game. He’s been off a long time.”
Richardson also is counting on Hall to help keep the tempo of the offense and noted the breakaway he had against the Utah Hockey Club during the Hawks’ 5-2 loss Tuesday.
“I think he’s starting to find those opportunities that he was really good at when he was the (NHL) MVP in New Jersey,” Richardson said. “I remember him having breakaways every game.”
In the future, he doesn’t want Hall to play hero when it comes to injuries.
“You’ve got to trust the medical staff, and you’ve got to listen to that and listen to your body,” Richardson said. “No one knows his body like he does. … I think he’s starting to get that.
“Last year was probably a tough lesson for him. But when a coach asks a player (if) he’s ready to go and he wants to tough it out and say he’s ready to go, you love to hear that. (But) you just don’t really know what the truth is inside. So you hope that they’re comfortable enough to give you (the truth), and I think he’s probably at that stage now.”
It appears Hall already has learned that lesson.
“If I was to get injured tomorrow or whatever — you can’t play if you’re not at least 90% healthy,” he said. “It’s important to remember that sometimes.
“When you’re with a new team, you want to make the best first impression you can and sometimes you put yourself in just a tougher spot when you do that. So live and learn.”
And as for that protruding shoulder, it may look scary but it functions properly, Hall insists, winding his arm to demonstrate his full range of motion.
“The only surgery that you would do is just aesthetically you can go in and shave the bone down and put it in a better spot,” Hall said. “But it doesn’t do anything functionally. … I can do pushups and bench press and everything.
“So, yep, just another battle scar.”
