Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman John Klingberg will undergo season-ending hip surgery at the end of December, general manager Brad Treliving announced Wednesday, according to The Athletic’s Joshua Kloke.
Klingberg has been out of the lineup since Nov. 11 and was placed on long-term injured reserve Nov. 23.
The Maple Leafs now have added flexibility to make a move with Klingberg’s $4.15-million cap hit on LTIR for the remainder of the campaign. The club has been searching for help on the blue line, as it reportedly tried to land both Chris Tanev and Nikita Zadorov from the Calgary Flames before the latter was dealt to the Vancouver Canucks.
Toronto is also without fellow blue-liners Timothy Liljegren and Mark Giordano for the foreseeable future.
Klingberg, 31, recorded five assists in 14 games with the Maple Leafs this season. He’s been heavily criticized for his poor defensive play.
The Leafs signed him to a one-year deal as a free agent in the offseason.
NHL free agent forward Patrick Kane told The Associated Press on Thursday he’s been on the ice about 20 times already and is on track, if not ahead of the initial four to six month projection in returning to play since having hip resurfacing surgery on June 1.
“It’s just exciting to see progression and just feeling better on the ice,” Kane said by phone. “Kind of getting back to my old self, so it’s pretty exciting.”
The 34-year-old, three-time Stanley Cup winner says he has an upcoming doctor’s appointment during which he hopes to be cleared for contact.
Kane elected to have surgery to repair a nagging injury which hampered him over the past year with the Chicago Blackhawks and then down the stretch and playoffs after being traded to the New York Rangers.
Though eager to resume playing, Kane said he intends to stick with the six-month rehabilitation timetable.
“I think we’re at the point now where, I mean, could I come back early? Yeah, probably,” Kane said. “But does it make sense? You know, it might be better to take the full time and just make sure I’m at 105-110% instead of just 90-95. But it’s a lot better than I was last year.”
As for where he’ll be playing, Kane is staying patient while expecting to field offers once NHL teams open training camp in three weeks.
Then again, he added: “If someone wanted to come and give an offer that I was excited about, and a situation that I’m excited about, it’s not like I wouldn’t be listening just because of the situation I’m in.”
Kane’s production dipped last season in which he finished with 21 goals and 57 points in 73 games. Part of that was a result of his injury, with another spending the first 54 games on a Blackhawks team already retooling for the future.
His production went up upon being traded to the Rangers, where he had five goals and 12 points in 19 regular-season games, and adding a goal and five assists in New York’s seven-game first-round series loss to New Jersey.
From Buffalo, New York, Kane is second only to Mike Modano in scoring among U.S.-born players with 1,237 points. Kane was one of the centerpieces of Chicago’s Stanley Cup-winning teams in 2010, ’13 and ’15 and won the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 2016.
The NHL’s No. 1 draft pick in 2007, Kane joined Washington’s Nicklas Backstrom and Carl Hagelin as players to have the invasive hip surgery over the past year. It involves dislocating the upper end of the thighbone, trimming it, capping it and removing cartilage before putting it back in place.
Backstrom, who also was seeking to fix a lingering hip ailment, played seven months after the surgery and finished the season with 21 points in 39 games. Hagelin announced his retirement on Wednesday, citing an eye injury that has sidelined him for nearly a year and a half.
Before Backstrom, the only NHL player to come back from hip resurfacing surgery was longtime defenseman Ed Jovanovski, who got into 37 more games before calling it a career.
Patrick Kane underwent hip resurfacing surgery on Thursday and is expected to take four-to-six months to recover, his agent Pat Brisson announced, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
Brisson added that Kane “wants to play for a long time.”
Under this recovery timeline, Kane could return to action between October and December.
Kane is a pending unrestricted free agent after wrapping up the final season of an eight-year, $84-million pact. After spending 16 seasons with the Blackhawks, Chicago sent him to the New York Rangers prior to this year’s trade deadline.
The 34-year-old put up 21 goals and 36 assists in 73 regular-season games and added six points in seven playoff contests before the Rangers were bounced out of the first round by the New Jersey Devils.
Though the Rangers ended up acquiring Kane in February, they initially had concerns about a nagging hip injury, according to ESPN’s Emily Kaplan.
Washington Capitals veteran Nicklas Backstrom underwent hip resurfacing surgery last June and wasn’t able to make his season debut until January.
During his end-of-season media availability, Kane said a return to the rebuilding Blackhawks hadn’t crossed his mind, per SNY Rangers.
Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said in April that he didn’t offer Kane or Jonathan Toews an extension, adding that he wasn’t sure if “resting on the past or on sentimentality” would benefit Chicago in the long run.
A three-time Stanley Cup champion, Kane has 451 goals and 786 assists in 1,180 career NHL games.
Dallas Stars veteran Tyler Seguin recently revealed he considered retiring in January 2021 while at a friend’s cottage in Muskoka, Ontario.
“I looked over at my friend and said, ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to play anymore,'” Seguin told NHL.com’s Mike Zeisberger this week. “‘My career might be over. This might be it.’ I just didn’t see any light at the end of the tunnel.”
He added: “Whenever there are dark times, whenever I’m down, I think about that, about being in Muskoka, about where I’ve come from. That keeps you going.”
At the time, Seguin was recovering from offseason surgery to repair significant damage in his hip. The 30-year-old sustained the injury in the 2020 postseason and played through the ailment during the Stars’ run to the Stanley Cup Final.
The surgery limited him to just three games during the 2020-21 campaign, delaying his season debut until early May as Dallas missed the playoffs.
Seguin posted just 49 points in 81 games last season, an output he’s certain he can eclipse by at least 15 points in 2022-23.
“I still think there is no way in (heck) I should be statistically where I was last year,” he said. “So I keep thinking that, keep believing that, keep working towards that.”
Seguin – who said he feels better than he has in the last three years – already has two goals and three assists through the Stars’ first five games of the season.
Dallas, meanwhile, is 4-0-1 to start the 2022-23 campaign, with two of those wins coming against the Central Division rival Nashville Predators.
There’s no specific timeline, but the club noted he will begin his rehab and “lengthy recovery process” immediately.
Backstrom missed the first 28 games of the 2021-22 regular season while recovering from a hip injury. The 34-year-old posted six goals and 25 assists in 47 contests. His 0.66 points per game marked a career low.
“The hip’s not going to be 100%,” Backstrom said May 15, two days after the Caps were eliminated from the playoffs. “That’s something we all know. Some days are good. Some days are less good. That’s just life.”
This isn’t Backstrom’s first hip surgery. He underwent an arthroscopic procedure in 2015, but Friday’s surgery is considered more serious.
Hip resurfacing surgery is a form of hip replacement surgery. Ryan Kesler is the most notable NHL player to undergo the procedure in recent memory. He did so in 2019 and it effectively ended his playing career.
Backstrom has three years left on his contract with a $9.2-million cap hit. Washington can free up that money by placing him on long-term injured reserve to begin the 2022-23 campaign if he’s required to miss time.
Selected by the Capitals with the No. 4 pick in 2006, Backstrom has spent his entire 15-year career in Washington. He’s been a staple of consistency ever since, reaching the 70-point mark eight times. The Swede is the Capitals’ franchise leader in assists (747) and ranks second behind Alex Ovechkin in points (1,011).
Since entering the NHL in 2007-08, only Patrick Kane has tallied more assists, and only Ovechkin, Sidney Crosby, Kane, and Evgeni Malkin have recorded more points.
Boston Bruins star Brad Marchand underwent successful surgery on both hips and will miss approximately six months, the team announced Friday.
Marchand only appeared in 70 games for the Bruins this season, but the majority of his absences weren’t injury related. He was suspended nine games total for two separate incidents and also sat out the club’s regular-season finale for rest.
The 34-year-old was Boston’s top producer in 2021-22, registering 80 points during the campaign before netting four goals and seven assists in a seven-game defeat against the Carolina Hurricanes in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Marchand’s current timeline projects him to return to the ice in late November.
The Bruins are facing an uncertain offseason as captain Patrice Bergeron is unsure whether he’ll retire or sign a new contract. Earlier this month, team president Cam Neely was noncommittal on the future of head coach Bruce Cassidy, saying the club needs to “make some changes” to the way it plays.
Calgary Flames forward Sean Monahan will undergo season-ending surgery on his hip and will hit the long-term injured reserve list, the team announced Saturday.
This surgery is on the opposite hip of the one he had repaired last summer, according to Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson.
The 27-year-old has had a slew of tough injuries over the years, undergoing a wrist, groin, and two hernia surgeries in 2018 and an additional wrist surgery in 2017.
“Most people out there couldn’t play through a third of what he has,” GM Brad Treliving said Saturday, according to Sportsnet’s Luke Fox.
Monahan has played a largely diminished role in Calgary this season, often skating on the team’s fourth line. He managed eight goals and 15 assists in 65 contests.
After being taken off life support earlier today, family of Scott Hall has confirmed that the wrestling legend and long time WCW and WWE star has passed away at the age of 63. Scott Hall was put on life support on Sunday following complications from a recent hip surgery that led to him suffering several heart attacks due to a blood clot.
Born on October 20, 1958, Scott Hall entered the wrestling business in 1984 after training with Japanese wrestler Hiro Matsuda. Initially brought into Championship Wrestling from Florida as an opponent for Dusty Rhodes, Hall later joined Verne Gagne’s American Wrestling Association (AWA) in 1985, where he worked for the next four years. Despite never winning the AWA World Heavyweight Championship, Hall was a top star during AWA’s latter days, and had one reign as AWA World Tag Team Champions with AWA top star Curt Hennig.
After leaving AWA, Scott Hall briefly worked for WCW in 1989 before leaving the same year. He would work several promotions over the next few years, notably New Japan Pro Wrestling (where he also worked during his stay in AWA) and Puerto Rico’s World Wrestling Council before rejoining WCW in 1991 as the Diamond Studd. Managed by Diamond Dallas Page, Hall’s run as Diamond Studd largely kept him in the midcard until he left the promotion again in early 1992.
It was soon after that Scott Hall’s career took off when he joined WWE later that year, finally reaching the promotion after two failed tryouts in 1987 and 1990. Creating a character modeled after Tony Montana and Manny Ribera from Brian DePalma’s film Scarface, Hall became Razor Ramon and quickly became one of WWE’s top stars over the next four years, winning the WWE Intercontinental Championship four times. His WWE run is best remembered for his feud with close friend 1-2-3 Kid (Sean Waltman), which served as Waltman’s big break, his ladder match with Shawn Michaels at WrestleMania X in 1994 and the formation of the backstage group The Kliq, consisting of Hall, Waltman, Michaels, Triple H and Kevin Nash.
Arguably however, Scott Hall’s biggest contribution to wrestling was when he and Nash left WWE for WCW in 1996. Appearing first on the May 26 edition of WCW Monday Nitro, Hall, seemingly representing WWE, called out WCW in his famous “you want a war? You’re gonna get one” speech. The speech would kickstart an angle that would lead to the formation of the New World Order (nWo) at Bash at the Beach 1996, when Hulk Hogan betrayed WCW to join Hall and Nash, dubbed The Outsiders. The group would go on to become one of the greatest and most influential groups in wrestling history.
Scott Hall remained a key member of the nWo throughout the rest of his WCW tenure, winning the WCW World Tag Team Championships 6 times with Nash and 1 time with The Giant (AEW’s Paul Wight). He would also win the WCW United States Championship 2 times and the WCW Television Championship 1 time.
Scott Hall is also said to have been the one that suggested Sting take on his legendary Crow persona, and notably played a role in Bill Goldberg both winning and losing the WCW World Heavyweight Championship. Goldberg was forced to defeat Hall on the July 6 episode of WCW Monday Nitro in order to face Hollywood Hogan later that night, and Hall later cost Goldberg the title at Starrcade 1998 when stunning the then WCW Champion with a taser, allowing Nash to defeat Goldberg and end the streak.
After leaving WCW in 2000, Scott Hall briefly worked two nontelevised ECW events and wrestled for New Japan once more in 2001, where he wrestled and put over future top star Hiroshi Tanahashi. Hall was brought back to WWE in 2002 when WWE brought in the nWo, but he was released shortly after following his role in the infamous Plane Ride From Hell incident.
Scott Hall would continue to work sporadically for the next several years, appearing in TNA, WWC and even one AAA show in 2007. He and Nash would win their final tag team championship together, the TNA World Tag Team Championships, in 2010, along with Eric Young. Shortly after Hall would leave the promotion and retire from in ring competition; his last match was on May 19, 2010, where he and Young defeated Matt Morgan in a handicap match.
Throughout his career, Scott Hall dealt with alcohol and drug addiction that affected his career; at one point, his issues were even incorporated into a widely panned WCW angle in the fall of 1998. The effects of substance abuse eventually led to Hall being diagnosed with epilepsy, and he also dealt with numerous heart issues.
Long time friend Nash later attributed Hall’s substance abuse issues to posttraumatic stress disorder, relating to an incident in 1983 where Hall killed a man in an altercation outside an Orlando night club. 2nd degree murder chargers were later dropped against Hall, who always claimed self defense, but the event had a profound effect on him. Hall would discuss the incident, along with his career, family and substance abuse issues, in great detail during an ESPN E:60 documentary released in October of 2011.
In 2013, Scott Hall would move into the home of former manager Diamond Dallas Page, along with wrestling legend Jake Roberts, in an attempt to get sober. The move had a profound affect on Hall, and he would soon be welcomed back into WWE, making several appearances between 2014 and 2021. Hall would go on to be inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame twice, first as Razor Ramon in 2014 and again as part of the nWo in 2021. Hall also appeared on the 9th episode of AEW’s Road to Double or Nothing series in 2019, talking about Conrad Thompson’s Starrcast convention.
Scott Hall is survived by his friends and family, including ex-wives Dana and Jessica, daughter Cassidy Lee Hall and son Cody Taylor Hall. Cody Hall is also a wrestler who trained with his father and would go on to work for New Japan, Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT, Ring of Honor, Revolution Pro Wrestling and AAA. He has not wrestled a match since 2020.
Today unfortunately brings us a sad new development in the Scott Hall situation, with The Bad Guy’s long-time tag team partner and best friend Kevin Nash revealing that the 63-year-old is to be taken off life support.
PWTorch’s Wade Keller revealed on Sunday that Hall had been put on life support in Marietta, Georgia after complications from hip surgery the previous week set a blood clot loose, causing him to have three heart attacks. Now, Hall has used Instagram to state that once Scott’s family is in place, his life support will be “discontinued”:
Scott’s on life support. Once his family is in place they will discontinue life support. I’m going to lose the one person on this planet I’ve spent more of my life with than anyone else. My heart is broken and I’m so very !*$% sad. I love Scott with all my heart but now I have to prepare my life without him in the present. I’ve been blessed to have a friend that took me at face value and I him. When we jumped to WCW we didn’t care who liked or hated us. We had each other and with the smooth Barry Bloom we changed wrestling both in content and pay for those……alot that disliked us. We were the “Outsiders ” but we had each other. Scott always felt he wasn’t worthy of the afterlife. Well God please have some gold plated toothpicks for my brother. My life was enriched with his take on life. He wasn’t perfect but as he always said “The last perfect person to walk the planet they nailed to a cross ” As we prepare for life without him just remember there goes a great guy you ain’t going to see another one like him again. See Ya down the road Scott. I couldn’t love a human being any more than I do you
Close friends onscreen and off, Hall and Nash have been inseparable for the past three decades, from their collective time in The Kliq, as The Outsiders, and foundational New World Order members, to their short WWE return in 2002, their Total Nonstop Action stints, various nWo reunions, and beyond. Since the mid-90s, it has been virtually impossible to talk about one without mentioning the other.
The duo were last seen onscreen together at last year’s dual 2020 and 2021 WWE Hall of Fame induction ceremony, where they entered as part of the New World Order with Hulk Hogan and Sean Waltman. Both men had been inducted as singles acts prior to this, with Hall entering as Razor Ramon in 2014 and Nash joining him the following year.
In some awful news, Scott Hall is on life support after suffering multiple heart attacks.
As per Wade Keller at the PWTorch, Hall is on life support at Marietta, Georgia’s Wellstar Kennestone Hospital. It’s believed the WWE Hall of Famer suffered three heart attacks last night. The nWo founder underwent hip replacement surgery last week, but major complications arose when a blood clot got loose.
Having made his in-ring bow in 1984, the Hiro Matsuda-trained Scott Hall made a name for himself in the AWA as ‘Magnum’ Scott Hall and ‘Big’ Scott Hall before landing in WCW on a full-time basis in 1991 as The Diamond Studd. Managed by real-life close friend Diamond Dallas Page during this spell, Hall would spend a year signed to WCW and then jump ship to the then-WWF and become Razor Ramon.
Four Intercontinental Championship reigns would follow in WWF for Razor, with him being one of the most despised villains in the company and then later being one of the most popular babyfaces. Famously, Hall would return to WCW in 1996 and usher in what would become the New World Order.
A brief WWE return would happen once WCW was purchased by Vince McMahon, and Scott would also haves stints in TNA, New Japan Pro Wrestling and World Wrestling Council during his in-ring days. Since hanging up his boots in 2010, the 63-year-old has been inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame on two occasions – once as Razor Ramon, once as part of the nWo.
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