Cole Guttman’s excellent first Blackhawks season cut short by shoulder surgery

Cole Guttman’s stellar Blackhawks rookie season has ended prematurely, but now it appears even more impressive in context.

The 23-year-old forward had been playing through a shoulder injury since November, coach Luke Richardson said Monday. He and the Hawks decided to shut him down for the rest of the season so he could undergo surgery to fix it.

Richardson admitted Guttman had been “dragging it out” as long as he could, and understandably so, given how well Guttman had been playing as the second-line center. But by getting the surgery now, he should make a full recovery before training camp next fall, which is the No. 1 priority at this point.

“He wanted to keep playing, but the decision was the right thing to do it now, to get ready for next year,” Richardson said. “Because he has shown he can play here. So he wants to have a chance to be ready [and] 100% for training camp to show that he can again.”

The injury occurred while Guttman was playing for Rockford, where he made a big impression by not only producing 30 points in 39 games but also showing versatility and quick adaptability with faceoffs, penalty-killing and other areas.

After his NHL debut Feb. 15 against the Maple Leafs, Guttman hurt his shoulder again Feb. 25 against the Sharks. He continued grinding through it, however, until after the game Saturday against the Lightning (the organization that drafted him). The Hawks didn’t bother using a paper transaction to make him eligible for the AHL playoffs for this reason.

“We knew he was playing through something that doesn’t get better on its own,” his father, Brent, said. “It was just a matter of when to handle that.”

Guttman joins a lengthy injured list. Jonathan Toews (long COVID), Reese Johnson (concussion), Colin Blackwell (groin), Anders Bjork (right leg/ankle), Andreas Englund (hamstring) and Austin Wagner (infection) are all sidelined, although Connor Murphy (personal) and Alex Stalock (illness) did return to practice Monday.

Forwards Mike Hardman and Buddy Robinson — who have made a combined one NHL appearance this season — were called up from Rockford as the latest reinforcements to the Hawks’ ragtag roster.

Guttman and his family can look back on his first professional season with pride, though.

He not only excelled in the AHL but quickly found a rhythm in the NHL, tallying points in each of his last three games and finishing with six points (including four goals) and a 52.1% faceoff percentage in 14 games. His 5-10, 180-pound frame was not a problem at all.

“We knew he was a smart hockey player,” Richardson said recently. “The question for us [was], just with his size, did he have separation speed? And he has shown that. He’s not afraid to hold on to pucks in tight areas and make strong plays.”

Guttman said he learned that the amount of “time and space” available in the NHL was “even worse than you think.”

He nonetheless never seemed intimidated or neutralized by that. He made clever plays around the net, demonstrated a deceptively powerful shot, exhibited good positional awareness, rarely turned the puck over — of which he was clearly mindful — and held his own defensively.

“The question is always: What you’ve accomplished so far, does it translate to the next level?” Brent said. “The fact they started him in the AHL gave him a chance to figure it out there and find his stride there. And then the fact he could get 14 games in the NHL and have that opportunity before he had to shut it down, that’s all really positive.

“I don’t think he looks at the surgery as a huge negative. It’s just part of the deal.”