VANCOUVER — The Chicago Blackhawks, who have scored just one regulation goal in each of their last four games, will be without four-time All-Star defenseman Seth Jones and former MVP Taylor Hall on Saturday night when they face the Vancouver Canucks, and possibly for longer. Jones is hurt and Hall is being benched.
Jones suffered a right foot injury when he blocked a shot Thursday night in Seattle and will be put on injured reserve, according to Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson. That means he’ll miss at least one week and at least three games, but it’s too soon to tell how long he might be out for. It leaves a massive hole on the blue line for the Blackhawks to fill. Jones leads the NHL in ice time per game this season, averaging 25 minutes, 43 seconds. He has two goals and eight assists in 17 games as Chicago’s clear No. 1. In his absence, Alex Vlasic will run the top power-play unit, and Alec Martinez, who just returned from injury himself, will run the second unit.
“That’s a lot of minutes, and I know he’s crucial in a lot of areas (for) our team,” Richardson said of Jones. “Guys step up and it’s an opportunity to have more minutes, and more important minutes. We’ve got some young guys in the lineup, too, that will hopefully benefit from that and take the opportunity and run with it.”
Seth Jones is heading to IR with a right foot injury. Blocked a shot in Seattle.
Taylor Hall is scratched tonight. Luke Richardson wants to give him more practice time.
— Mark Lazerus (@MarkLazerus) November 16, 2024
Connor Bedard, a North Vancouver native who is making his homecoming against the Canucks, said “you can’t” replace a guy like Jones.
“He’s a hell of a player and he has such a big role for us, he means so much to our team,” Bedard said. “It’s just an opportunity for other guys to step up on the back end and try to take a role like that, but it’s hard to replace a guy like that with how much he means to us.”
Hall will be a healthy scratch, an eyebrow-raising move from Richardson. Hall hasn’t scored in his last 10 games and saw his ice time drop to just 13:23 in Seattle, but has been a fixture in the top six. The 2018 Hart Trophy winner as league MVP is coming off major knee surgery which cost him nearly all of last season, and Richardson said he needs more work. Hall stayed on the ice after the Blackhawks completed their morning skate on Saturday to get some extra practice in. Richardson cited the Blackhawks’ struggles getting through the neutral zone against the Kraken as one of the reasons for the decision.
“Unfortunately, the schedule hasn’t allowed a lot of practice time for him, so that’s the plan,” Richardson said. “I think just coming off eight, nine months out, to us, we just want to get him a little bit more work, and then it’s hard to do that in the games and not get too frustrated and chase it. So that’s our plan.”
Richardson hinted that Hall’s benching could last multiple games. He said Hall is “not happy sitting out,” but said it’ll be a “good step for him.”
“Players want to play, and I totally understand that,” Richardson said. “But that’s just a decision that we feel (will) help the player. … So hopefully we can get a couple good (days) on the ice for him, feeling good with the puck and playing like Taylor Hall plays — skating up and down the ice with the puck and recovering pucks in the O-zone and moving his feet and getting lots of opportunities. Our team didn’t do a great job getting through the neutral zone as a team last game, so that takes away from a guy like him’s game. It’s me personally thinking that’s a good plan for the next week. I know the player disagrees, but sometimes that happens.”
Required reading
(Photo of Seth Jones: Andy Devlin / NHLI via Getty Images)
