The Chicago Blackhawks will be without Alex Nylander for the next while, announcing today that the young forward underwent surgery Monday on his left knee to repair a torn meniscus and will be out for four to six months. Nylander was originally injured in the playoffs but decided to try and rest and rehab it initially. Symptoms returned recently and the decision for surgery was made.
This is a worst-case scenario for the 22-year-old Nylander who still hasn’t come close to fulfilling the potential that made him the eighth-overall pick in 2016. That pick was made by the Buffalo Sabres, who cut bait on the disappointing forward in 2019 by sending him to the Blackhawks in exchange for Henri Jokiharju. In his first year in Chicago, Nylander played in 65 games but managed just ten goals and 26 points before going scoreless in eight postseason contests.
For a player that is consistently compared to his brother William Nylander who was also an eighth-overall pick but just had a 31-goal season for the Toronto Maple Leafs, losing an entire season due to injury will do nothing to remove the “bust” tag that some have already placed on him. Not only are his days as a top prospect are gone—he’ll be 23 by the time he has recovered—but Alex Nylander will need to fight for his future in Chicago. His entry-level contract will expire after this season, leaving him a restricted free agent without much leverage or arbitration eligibility.
Is it possible to put him on LTIR and free up some cap space?
He’s making like 800k a season, I’m sure they can free up cap space but it’s not goin to do much, maybe strome gets 3.5 mil instead of 3 for the season
Ah, yeah, forgot he wasn’t making that much to begin with. Wishful thinking…
The trade that just keeps on giving. So dumb for Bowman to trade Jokiharju for Nylander.
Jokiharju is the No. 6 Dman on a terrible BUF team and, even if he flashed this season, would have been snatched up by SEA in the expansion draft. I hate Nylander, too, and didn’t like the trade at the time, but the exultation of Joki for being the next coming has got to stop.
I think most people came to their senses and don’t believe he was going to be a top 2 for the Hawks. The issue is that defencemen take time to develop and some were willing to wait to see what he could be unlike Nylander who was already a more proven commodity at the time of the trade. In retrospect I agree that the Hawks were looking at a future logjam on defence and Joker was expendable. Nylander though has continued to prove he was not worth the trade in the first place.
To top it off dach just suffered a hand injury that didn’t look very promising in the wjc warmup game