Snapshots: Hall, Saad, Fasching

Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times reported earlier today that Chicago Blackhawks forward Taylor Hall did not practice with the team as he was taking a maintenance day. Hall previously skated in 15:14 of Chicago’s loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Wednesday and earned a -2 rating with one shot on goal, four giveaways, and one takeaway.

Pope did not elaborate in the report whether Hall was dealing with any minor injuries or ailments from the game on Wednesday. The Blackhawks will surely be playing it safe concerning Hall’s training camp and preseason given his injury track record over the last two seasons.

The former MVP only suited up in 61 games for the Boston Bruins in the 2022-23 NHL season scoring 16 goals and 36 points. The 20-game loss from two years ago was nothing compared to last season as Hall only managed 10 games for the Blackhawks before losing the entire season to a knee injury requiring surgery. Chicago and Hall will be looking for a clean bill of health from the 2010 first-overall pick as the organization hopes to be more competitive this season.

Other snapshots:

• St. Louis Blues forward Brandon Saad may be unable to start the regular season on time as he and his wife are expecting their third child in the coming days. Matthew DeFranks of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes that if Saad doesn’t start the season on time the Blues will fill the temporary opening with prospect Zachary Bolduc (Subscription Article). St. Louis has been utilizing Bolduc in a top-six role early this preseason and it may give him an offensive jolt early in the season after only mustering five goals and nine points in 25 games for the Blues last season.
• The New York Islanders will be without depth forward Hudson Fasching for the next couple of days as Andrew Gross of Newsday reports he is out day-to-day with a lower-body injury. This confirms Fasching will not be in the lineup for the Islanders tonight as they take on division-rival New Jersey Devils in a preseason contest. Fasching has only been in one preseason game up to this point tallying one assist in 14:30 of ice time in the Islanders’ loss against the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.