Blackhawks Notebook: Samuel Savoie Out Indefinitely

It looked bad and undoubtedly sounded even worse. Now, there’s news about Chicago Blackhawks forward Samuel Savoie and it’s just about as bad as one could have imagined.

Savoie will be out indefinitely with a femur injury, suffered during yesterday’s preseason game against the Minnesota Wild.

The Blackhawks also released an update which reads below:

Chicago Blackhawks team physician Dr. Michael Terry today released the following medical update:

“Blackhawks forward Samuel Savoie underwent successful surgery on his right femur on Sunday in Minnesota, and we expect him to make a full recovery.”

Absence indéterminée pour Samuel Savoie.

Détails ➡️ https://t.co/jO1EORYTBq

Samuel Savoie out indefinitely.

Details ➡️ https://t.co/1GhN7sVQ0N

📸 : @D_Charettephoto #goOLgo♠️ pic.twitter.com/to1hck69F1

— Olympiques de Gatineau (@OlympiquesGAT) October 1, 2023

It’s certainly a brutal injury for Savoie, and the Blackhawks are expected to release more information later. But the injury has likely ended the season for a prospect who was popular in camp and with Gatineau as well. He was also primed for another good season.

But injury, like everything else, is part of the process.

Injury Will Play into Prospect Development

The NHL Draft is often the faith based part of being a fan–the hope that it will all work out. But anyone playing the numbers or the odds knows that despite the high numbers of picks are likely to see only a handful of prospects if everything goes right.

Drafting. Developing. Some luck. But it’s health that often is one of the biggest wild cards for any prospect who plays the game.

In what was just a freak accident, Savoie likely misses the season.

Sam Savoie gives a thumbs up as he's being stretchered off the ice, but head coach Luke Richardson looks a little shaken as he takes a deep breath. Tough scene. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/GlAt4fZyhD

— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) October 1, 2023

So much has to go right. But a fluky play where he slams into the boards changes so much.

Anyone who saw what Savoie went through felt sick. Beyond the organizational aspect of it, no one wants to see anyone go through that–regardless of rooting interest.

There is a human element, after all.

But it’s also a sobering reminder that the development side of things isn’t always as expected. That sometimes, the human versus the organizational trumps things.

Any Hawks fan that watched hopes Samuel Savoie is alright.  But for one of the organization’s prospects who had promise, there’s a recovery time now involved that alters his timeline a bit.

It just goes to show that so much has to go right, and that as much as no one want to admit it, luck and health are a big part of it–and there isn’t much control there.