When the NHL stars come out at night, it’s not necessary to turn their lights out (knocking them on their keister is allowed, too) but Edmonton Oilers centre Taylor Hall has avoided two runs at his head since training camp started.
The latest close-call came Tuesday night, when Jacob Trouba, the hugely impressive rookie Winnipeg Jets defenceman, barely missed connecting with Hall’s cranium in the third period of the 5-4 Oilers loss.
Trouba, who played 10 minutes in the third (25 in all in his first NHL game), almost unloaded on Hall with either a shoulder or an elbow on a Hall rush.
Hall ducked just in time, but if he hadn’t, we might be talking about concussion protocol, and Trouba quite likely would be hearing from Brendan Shanahan, the league’s head of player safety.
“He (Trouba) had his elbow out. I don’t know why he’s doing that … I wasn’t expecting it,” said Hall.
“I had my head up but you can’t always expect a guy will be coming at you with a flying blow.”
In exhibition season, Vancouver’s Dale Weise also took a run at Hall’s noggin and got suspended for the rest of pre-season.
Trouba, who was paired with Zach Bogosian throughout the Jets 5-4 rally, was tossed out there repeatedly by former Oilers and Jets assistant coach Charlie Huddy, who handles Winnipeg’s defence, He played half the third period and was on the ice in the last minute when Hall and the Oilers were pressing for the tying goal.
The 19-year-old is a helluva player, but sorry, that was a head-hunting expedition on Hall.
Again, two such incidents in the last 10 days on the Oilers centre, who blamed himself on Weise’s run, saying he wasn’t prepared.