{"id":456240,"date":"2026-02-13T00:44:36","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T00:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/456240\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T00:44:36","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T00:44:36","slug":"the-chicago-blackhawks-may-have-a-season-ending-injury-on-their-hands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/456240\/","title":{"rendered":"The Chicago Blackhawks may have a season-ending injury on their hands"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p>PUBLICATION<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagohockeyinsider.com\/collaborators\/sam-walker\" class=\"lediv\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sam Walker<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFebruary 11, 2026\u00a0\u00a0(10:15)<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t&#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t  &#13;<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t  <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/641299.webp.webp\" style=\"width:100%;\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Chicago Blackhawks HC Jeff Blashill\" title=\"Chicago Blackhawks HC Jeff Blashill\"\/>&#13;<\/p>\n<p>Photo credit: Screenshot<\/p>\n<p>Wyatt Kaiser went down in pain Wednesday during Chicago&#8217;s last game before the Olympic break, and a possible season-ending injury just slammed the Blackhawks&#8217; rebuild.<\/p>\n<p>It happened early against Columbus, the kind of tangle you never want to see.<\/p>\n<p>Chicago ruled him out quickly, and the bench looked rattled after that.<\/p>\n<p>The score got ugly fast, but the real damage was watching a key defender helped off.<\/p>\n<p>Kaiser has been a steady piece all season, even when the results around him are chaotic.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s played 57 games and sits at 5-7-12, quietly taking on tougher minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Wyatt Kaiser&#8217;s injury squeezes the Chicago Blackhawks<\/p>\n<p>Blackhawks fans have seen this movie too many times, and the sick feeling is real because injuries always seem to land on the few bright spots.<\/p>\n<p>Kaiser is 23, and he matters because he is supposed to be part of the next version of this team.<\/p>\n<p>He was drafted in 2020, third round, 81st overall, by the Blackhawks.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s not star pedigree, but it is exactly the type of value a rebuild needs to hit.<\/p>\n<p>Chicago signed him to a two-year deal in September with a $1.7 million cap hit through 2026-27.<\/p>\n<p>That contract looks smart when he is playing, and painful if this turns into a long rehab.<\/p>\n<p>The initial label was a lower-body injury, and that usually means more tests and a lot of waiting.<\/p>\n<p>The Olympic break helps the calendar, but it does not fix a serious ligament problem.<\/p>\n<p>Now the coaching staff has to patch the pairs, protect younger partners, and survive without another stabilizer.<\/p>\n<p>The next stretch after the break will tell us if Chicago can keep games tight, or if this becomes another night-to-night scramble.<\/p>\n<p>Previously on Chicago Hockey Insider<\/p>\n<p>POLL<\/p>\n<p>FEVRIER 11|98 ANSWERS<\/p>\n<p>The Chicago Blackhawks may have a season-ending injury on their hands<\/p>\n<p>Should the Chicago Blackhawks shut down Wyatt Kaiser for the season?<\/p>\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PUBLICATION Sam Walker February 11, 2026\u00a0\u00a0(10:15) &#13; &#13; &#13; Photo credit: Screenshot Wyatt Kaiser went down in pain&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456241,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5115],"tags":[521,37,96,5263,5,181,8781,4,55392,1570],"class_list":{"0":"post-456240","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-blackhawks","8":"tag-blackhawks","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","11":"tag-chicagoblackhawks","12":"tag-hockey","13":"tag-hockey-news","14":"tag-lower-body-injury","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-season-ending-injury","17":"tag-wyatt-kaiser"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116060558344889489","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}