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Jujhar Khaira

Jujhar Khaira Undergoes Surgery

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The Chicago Blackhawks have announced that Jujhar Khaira underwent back surgery yesterday and is expected to be out between 10-12 weeks. Khaira hasn’t played in over a month and is currently on long-term injured reserve.

Signed to a two-year contract last summer that carries a cap hit of $975K, Khaira has played in just 27 games this season for the Blackhawks, and has just three points (all goals) to his name. With this new surgery, it is turning out to be a lost season for the big forward, who was supposed to add some size and versatility to the team’s bottom six.

This kind of timeline likely keeps him out for the rest of the regular season, meaning unless the Blackhawks go on an incredible run and make it into the playoffs, we won’t see Khaira again in 2021-22.

Blackhawks Notes: Khaira, Stillman, Connolly

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Per the Daily Herald’s John Dietz, the Chicago Blackhawks moved forward Jujhar Khaira to injured reserve today. He has a lower back injury, and the move is retroactive to January 17. Khaira can come off injured reserve as soon as the 27th,  meaning the soonest he can return is January 28th at home against Colorado. He has just three goals in 27 games during his first season with Chicago.

More from the Blackhawks today, all per Dietz:

  • Defenseman Riley Stillman was also moved to injured reserve today, dealing with a shoulder injury he sustained last night against Minnesota. The soonest he can return is February 1st, meaning he’ll miss at least the team’s next five games. In his absence, Caleb Jones should see playing time with more consistency. Stillman has a respectable 10 points in 28 games.
  • The team also assigned forward Brett Connolly to the active roster, bringing him up from the taxi squad. He should play in his fifth game of the season tonight, drawing in on the fourth line alongside Sam Lafferty and Ryan Carpenter. Connolly was suspended earlier in the season for interfering with Dallas forward Tanner Kero.

West Notes: Wild, Fowler, Blackhawks, Sharks

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Wild GM Bill Guerin provided an update on a pair of injured Wild players, telling reporters, including Sarah McLellan of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, that defenseman Jared Spurgeon and center Joel Eriksson Ek will miss a couple more weeks.  Both had been listed as out indefinitely but it appears Minnesota won’t be without two of their top players for much longer.  Spurgeon is dealing with a recurrence of a lower-body injury from two weeks ago while Eriksson Ek suffered an upper-body injury a week and a half ago.

Elsewhere in the Western Conference:

  • While the Ducks were concerned that Cam Fowler’s upper-body injury in Wednesday’s game could be a long-term issue, it doesn’t appear as if that will be the case. Elliott Teaford of the Orange County Register relays that the blueliner traveled with the team for their two-game road trip that opens up tonight in Vegas which suggests that the veteran may not be out for long.  Fowler is having a nice season with 17 points in 33 games while leading the team in ice time at just over 23 minutes a game.
  • The Blackhawks received a bit of relief on the injury front yesterday as they announced (Twitter link) the activation of winger Jujhar Khaira and center Henrik Borgstrom from injured reserve. Khaira had missed the last three weeks after being stretchered off the ice in a game against Dallas while Borgstrom had been out just as long with a non-COVID illness.
  • The Sharks had good news and bad news on the COVID front yesterday. The team announced that defenseman Mario Ferraro was placed into protocols while winger Jonathan Dahlen was activated.  Under the new NHL guidelines, Ferraro could return after five days instead of the ten it has been for most of the season.

Mike Smith, Jujhar Khaira Nearing Return From Long-Term Injuries

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Two of the NHL’s more high-profile injury absences should be coming to an end shortly. Both Edmonton Oilers goaltender Mike Smith and Chicago Blackhawks forward Jujhar Khaira are in play to return to their respective lineups this week. Sportsnet reports that Smith will be “available” on Wednesday, while relaying an Associated Press story that has Khaira could be ready to go on Saturday.

Smith, 39, has had a season to forget thus far but hopes that he can stay healthy the rest of the way for the Oilers. The veteran netminder has been out of the lineup for over two months with an undisclosed lower-body injury, which he calls “one of the most difficult injuries of my career”. Smith was injured back on October 19 in just his third start of the season and has not played since. He returned to practice briefly last month before returning to the injured reserve. This sounds less like an in-game injury and more like a nagging issue that became too much to handle, but has since been resolved to some extent. While Smith sounds eager to resume play, Edmonton will not attempt to rush him back yet again, which is likely why the team has not yet named a starter for Wednesday. Smith was excellent for the Oilers last season and will be a key piece of their success this season, but with rookie Stuart Skinner playing well behind serviceable starter Mikko Koskinen, the team does not need to rush Smith back or overwork him either.

The former Oiler Khaira, in his first season with Chicago, has neither the name recognition of Smith nor the lengthy recovery time. However, any time a player is stretchered from the ice his injury status becomes headline news. This was the case with Khaira, who was knocked out by a check from New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba on December 7. Khaira was sent to the hospital and has been on the injured reserve since while going through the NHL’s concussion protocol. Fortunately, it seems the big winger has dealt with what appeared to be a serious head injury rather well. If Khaira does suit up on Saturday, it will be just three-and-half weeks since he suffered the concussion, a stretch made even more tolerable for both he and the Blackhawks by postponements that have kept Chicago out of action since December 18. Khaira has missed just five games as a result.

Jujhar Khaira Released From Hospital; Out Indefinitely

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Last night, after a scary hit that sent him to the ice unconscious, Chicago Blackhawks forward Jujhar Khaira was taken to a nearby hospital and monitored overnight. After extensive testing, he has been discharged and returned home. The Blackhawks have announced that though he suffered a significant injury, Khaira is expected to make a full recovery. There is no timeline for his return to play.

The hit, which was delivered by Jacob Trouba of the New York Rangers, did make contact with Khaira’s head, but also drove directly through his core. It was not penalized, but Trouba did end up fighting Riley Stillman soon afterward.

Chicago has made several roster moves following the game. Mike Hardman and Philipp Kurashev have been recalled, while Wyatt Kalynuk and Ian Mitchell have been sent back to the AHL. Mackenzie Entwistle, who was on injured reserve, has been activated and sent down.

West Notes: Zadorov, Kesler, Nurse, Khaira, Blackhawks Cap

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The fact that Flames defenseman Nikita Zadorov was among the 17 players to file for salary arbitration on Sunday raised some eyebrows considering he has been with Calgary for all of a few days.  However, his agent Dan Milstein of Gold Star released a statement via Twitter outlining that the short time since the move played a role in the filing:

We filed for arbitration on Nikita Zadorov’s behalf simply because the trade was recent and there wasn’t enough time to negotiate new contract with Calgary Flames. Discussions are ongoing and both sides are hopeful to have a contract in place soon.

The potential for an arbitration award that was too rich for Chicago’s liking played a role in Zadorov being traded and the Flames are certainly conscious of that.  However, we’re still another week and a half away from hearings beginning so there is still ample time to get a deal done.  Zadorov was qualified at $3.2MM and will get more than that on his next deal.

More from the Western Conference:

  • After seeing Chicago pick up Tyler Johnson and a draft pick for Brent Seabrook’s whose playing days have come to an end, the Ducks have told teams they’re open to doing a deal like that involving Ryan Kesler who is in the same situation, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports in the latest 31 Thoughts podcast (audio link). Kesler is entering the final year of his contract that carries a $6.875MM AAV and could be acquired to add to a teams’ LTIR pool while sending out some sort of salary offset that ultimately frees up some cap space, allowing Anaheim to add something for someone that isn’t going to play for them.
  • In the same podcast, Friedman reports that the Oilers are now focused on a max-term extension for defenseman Darnell Nurse. Previously, the expectation was a medium-term deal but with Dougie Hamilton’s contract with New Jersey setting the market, a long-term pact in the $9MM range appears to be the target for the 26-year-old who is coming off his top season that saw him collect 16 goals and 20 assists in 56 games while logging over 25 minutes a night.
  • Blackhawks forward Jujhar Khaira told reporters, including John Dietz of the Daily Herald, that he had multiple teams show interest in him in free agency. Edmonton declined to tender a $1.3MM qualifying offer and the 26-year-old wasn’t able to get that on the open market, ultimately taking a two-year deal worth $975K.  With just 21 points over the last two seasons, Khaira’s limited production limits him to a fourth-line role so a pay cut was likely for him though he managed to secure a second year at least.
  • Still with Chicago, Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman spoke with the media today and told reporters, including Mark Lazerus of The Athletic (Twitter link) that they don’t have to make any salary-cap-related moves to open up some space. They still have to re-sign young forwards Brandon Hagel and Alex Nylander and are about $3MM below their LTIR ceiling, per CapFriendly, with goalies Malcolm Subban and Collin Delia presumed to be off the roster either by waivers or trade.  That would lock in short-term deals for Nylander and Hagel to keep cap compliant but otherwise, it could be a quiet rest of the summer for them.

Chicago Blackhawks Sign Jujhar Khaira

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The Chicago Blackhawks have added some size and toughness to the bottom-six, signing Jujhar Khaira to a two-year contract. Khaira was recently let go by the Edmonton Oilers when they decided not to issue him a qualifying offer, but will land a $925K AAV in Chicago, according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet.

Khaira was one of the most recognizable names not to receive a QO this season and the Blackhawks leapt at the chance to add the physical young forward to their lineup. However, expectations should be tempered for the big winger. Although Khaira flashed some scoring ability earlier in his career that hinted at power forward potential, his ice time has remained steady over the past four years in Edmonton but his production has decreased and his hits have increased. Khaira has settled into a grinder role rather than focusing on the skill development needed to keep contending for an offensive role.

That is not to say that Khaira isn’t good at what he does. The 6’4″, 212-pound forward checks hard and often and is a difficult match-up for opponents. He was particularly aggressive this past season, logging a career-high 151 hits despite only playing in 40 games. That’s nearly four hits per game and a full season pace over over 300 hits. Those are menacing numbers and make Khairia a rare and valuable asset, even without the offensive upside.

Oilers Unlikely To Qualify Dominik Kahun And Jujhar Khaira

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Oilers GM Ken Holland spoke with the media today to discuss the upcoming offseason; the full transcript is available on their team website.  Among the topics that he addressed were his upcoming free agents where he indicated that he is unlikely to be tendering qualifying offers to forwards Dominik Kahun and Jujhar Khaira.

Kahun came to Edmonton back in the fall after being somewhat of a surprising non-tender by Buffalo considering he had two seasons of more than 30 points under his belt.  Instead, they opted to avoid the risk of an arbitration award that was too high for their liking.  The Oilers added the 26-year-old for just under a million dollars with the hopes that he’d rediscover some chemistry with countryman Leon Draisaitl but that didn’t happen.  Instead, he wasn’t able to hold down a spot in the top six for an extended period of time and wound up notching just 15 points in 48 games.  His qualifying offer checks in at an even million dollars but his previous production could be used in arbitration which would push the award higher than what Edmonton wanted to pay.

As for Khaira, he has been a regular in their lineup for most of the last four seasons, giving them some physicality and penalty killing from the fourth line.  However, the 26-year-old hasn’t been able to do much offensively, scoring just 24 goals in 258 career games with the Oilers.  With spending on role players expected to drop again this summer in an effort to cut costs, his $1.3MM qualifying offer with arbitration rights was clearly too much for them to commit to.

Having said that, it’s quite possible that Edmonton looks into trying to bring them back at lower rates that better fit their salary structure for next season though at this point, both players will likely want to see what’s out there on the open market.  They won’t have to wait too long to get there with free agency opening up on Wednesday.

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