3:17pm: The Devils have placed Hall on injured reserve and recalled Blake Pietila from Albany. He’ll meet the team in Anaheim, though there has been no word on if he’ll make his season debut on Thursday. Pietila has 11 points in 12 AHL contests this season.
2:31pm: Another superstar forward is out for a while, as the New Jersey Devils have announced that Taylor Hall will be out for three to four weeks following surgery to his left knee today. The forward went under the knife to repair a torn meniscus.
As reported earlier today, the coaching and training staff for New Jersey are unsure of when the injury took place, just that Hall came to the rink Tuesday morning in pain. After being traded to the Devils in the offseason, Hall has established himself as the powerful offensive presence he can be with 12 points in his first 14 games.
Though obviously losing a player of Hall’s stature isn’t good news, the Devils have collected a larger group of offensive players than usual over the past few seasons. With a 9-3-3 record, the team will now look to skaters like Kyle Palmieri, Adam Henrique and Pavel Zacha to step up their offensive production and keep the team on track.
For Tampa Bay Lightning fans, this may be a good indication of the timeline of injured forward Steven Stamkos, who also underwent an MRI today and likely has a meniscus injury. If surgery is required, he too could be out for almost a month.