The injury saga involving Blackhawks forward Taylor Hall took another turn for the worse Monday.
Hall originally injured his left shoulder Oct. 11 against the Bruins. After coach Luke Richardson initially deemed him week-to-week, he missed only one game before returning Oct. 16 against the Maple Leafs, admitting he wasn’t 100% healthy but thought he could play through the discomfort.
Then Saturday against the Golden Knights — three games into his return — a hit from defenseman Brayden Pachal aggravated the injury. Hall missed most of the second period but returned for the third.
Now Richardson has ruled Hall out for at least the next several games, including rematches Tuesday against the Bruins and Friday against the Knights. His status again is considered week-to-week.
‘‘He was trying to play through it, and instead of making him still try to do that, you could always have a risk of him hurting it worse,’’ Richardson said.
Hall’s absence will disrupt the Hawks’ offense during a brutal stretch of the schedule. He has assisted on both of rookie Connor Bedard’s goals this season and played alongside him in every situation. Without him, Bedard will be flanked Tuesday by Nick Foligno and Tyler Johnson.
‘‘[Hall is] known to be a skilled guy and a speedy guy, but he plays both ways and plays the right way, taking hits to make plays,’’ Richardson said. ‘‘We’re going to miss that, for sure, but that’s an opportunity for other guys to see what he did and try to emulate that.’’
The one fortunate aspect of the timing is that forward Philipp Kurashev is likely to return Tuesday, making his regular-season debut after missing several weeks with an injury to his left wrist. He’ll replace Hall in the lineup but won’t play on the same line.
Kurashev suffered his injury in the Hawks’ preseason opener Sept. 28 against the Blues but originally had ‘‘no clue’’ it was so significant. He practiced the next day before being shut down and eventually missing the first six regular-season games.
But Kurashev participated fully in the morning skate Saturday and in practice Monday. Barring any sudden inflammation, he anticipates receiving final clearance Tuesday morning.
‘‘It’s not fun [to miss that long],’’ he said. ‘‘It’s more hard mentally because you can’t be with the guys, especially on that long road trip for 11 days. It was pretty tough, but now I’m happy to be back.’’
Kurashev will initially join Jason Dickinson and Corey Perry on the third line, but it wouldn’t be surprising to him — at some point — slot alongside Lukas Reichel on the second line.
Richardson likes them together, and Reichel and Kurashev — close friends off the ice, partially because they can speak German to each other — like playing together.
During the 157 minutes of five-on-five ice time Reichel and Kurashev played together last season, the Hawks outscored opponents 7-5 but generated only 40.8% of the scoring chances, suggesting that goal differential might have been unsustainable. They’ll try to prove this season their chemistry makes it sustainable.
Kurashev should be particularly motivated as he begins his new two-year, arbitration-awarded contract that carries a $2.25 million salary-cap hit. To justify that salary, the Hawks will expect him to improve substantially on his stat line of 25 points in 70 games last season.
Efficiency will be a key to doing so. He has scored on only 4.2% and 4.3% of his shots the last two seasons, respectively, after converting 7.7% as a rookie in 2021.
‘‘I expect a lot from myself, so hopefully this year I can take a step forward,’’ Kurashev said during camp. ‘‘[It’s about] being more calm and relaxed when I get chances. I think we were creating a lot of chances last year, but . . . the execution wasn’t there always.’’
