Blackhawks' Taylor Hall used lost season to 'refresh mentally' while rehabbing ACL

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LOS ANGELES — As the Blackhawks made their way onto the ice for their final morning skate of the season Thursday at Crypto.com Arena, Taylor Hall appeared seemingly out of thin air.

The veteran forward, sidelined since November while recovering from surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, reached the stage where he could safely participate in light, non-contact drills with the team — and just in time.

“For me to come on this road trip at the end of the year [and] get some sun, it’s a little reward for me for the hard work that I’ve been putting in,” Hall said. “And it’s always nice to be around the guys, even if it’s just for a 20-minute skate.”

Hall’s absence contributed to the Hawks’ woes on offense, which mercifully came to an end Thursday night against the Kings. Acquired last summer to be rookie forward Connor Bedard’s right-hand man, the 32-year-old Canadian lasted only 10 games — compiling just four points — before going down. The injury disappointed him as much as it disappointed the Hawks, considering he entered the season hoping to prove he could defy the typical aging curve and rediscover his best form after some up-and-down years.

There were silver linings, though. For one thing, the injury allowed him to spend lots of time with his son, Stetson, born Oct. 8. The family time was a psychological reset for Hall after 13 years in the NHL — a break as he gears up for the stretch run of his career.

“I’m trying to do my best to use this time to refresh mentally,” he said.

Secondly, ACL reconstructions and the rehab processes that follow are more straightforward and foolproof than they used to be, and everything has gone as expected for Hall. He did most of his rehab in Chicago rather than at his summer home in Ontario.

“When you get a surgery like that [that’s] so well-researched, there’s so many different things you can do with rehab now that accelerate healing and help you along,” Hall said. “I was skating [after] three months, which was my goal to start with. I put a lot of hard work into this.

“To be where I am now, I’m quite proud of myself. [Even] knowing no one really gets to see the work that I do, I know what I’ve done and the hours I’ve put in.”

At the six-month mark post-surgery — roughly late May — Hall expects to receive full clearance from his surgeon to resume contact and other activities. That will give him a full offseason before the Hawks’ next training camp in the fall, by which point he believes he’ll easily be 100%.

“You forget [that Hall is] an MVP in this league,” coach Luke Richardson said. “The power that he has in his skating, it’s unbelievable. It really elevates things out there. . . . He should be ready to go first thing at training camp [later this] year, which we’re really excited about.”

Hall has another year left on his contract, so there’s nothing to figure out on that front. The biggest question is where he slots into the Hawks’ 2024-25 depth chart. Will he become Bedard’s designated winger after all, just a year late? Will he fill that role for Frank Nazar instead?

Or, with his durability uncertain and with Philipp Kurashev and Jason Dickinson having ascended into bigger roles, will Hall start lower down in the lineup and have to work his way up? The Hawks also are likely to bring in at least one new top-six forward this summer, adding much-needed talent but making the lineup even harder to predict.