When former No. 1 overall pick Taylor Hall makes headlines, it’s usually for a nifty goal, a dandy set-up or any other offensive play that comes with a flashy adjective.
On Thursday night, however, he caught the hockey world’s attention for one of the most gruesome acts in the sport.
With under three minutes to go in the Wild-Oilers game, Hall caught Cal Clutterbuck drifting through the neutral zone with his head down after the six-year veteran attempted to kick the puck out from under his legs to a Wild teammate. Rather than take down his opponent with a clean bodycheck, Hall did his best Ulf Samuelsson impression and stuck out his knee.
“I could have hit him in the head. I didn’t really want to bury him,” said Hall, who was given a 5-minute major and a game misconduct for kneeing.
Clutterbuck is heading to Calgary with his teammates, but there’s still reason for concern.
“He was stopped at the Zamboni entrance and put onto a stretcher, then wheeled to the Oilers medical room,” writes The Star’s Michael Russo. “I saw him with ice and a bandage just above the left knee as he was being wheeled.”
Check out the videos below, with a stick tap to Puck Daddy.
