Jujhar Khaira opens up about Jacob Trouba hit originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Blackhawks were part of a few scary on-ice moments last season, one of which centered around their teammate Jujhar Khaira, who was stretchered off the ice in a Dec. 7 game against the New York Rangers.
For the first time publicly, Khaira opened up about the Jacob Trouba hit and what he remembers about it.
“I remember it all,” Khaira said after Day 2 of training camp on Friday. “Obviously I’ve seen the clip now and you kind of paint the picture. It sucked. You never want to be in that situation, but it’s happened and that’s in the past now. Now I’m looking to the future.”
Khaira said Trouba reached out via text message after the play happened, Khaira responded back and “that was it.” The two have since moved on.
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Khaira, respectively, declined to share his thoughts on the hit itself and whether or not it was a dirty play, but you can probably read between the lines on how he truly felt about it.
“I mean, we all have our opinions,” Khaira said. “That’s all I’m going to say. We all have our opinions on the hit, and that’s it.”
Khaira acknowledged there’s always a possibility things like that are going to happen in a game. Hockey is an incredibly fast sport played on a slippery surface, and all the players know what they’re getting themselves into.
“It is hockey, it’s happened before,” Khaira said. “You see other guys through it. That’s the ugly part of hockey but there’s always the potential for that to happen and that was the case for me. It’s the game we all signed up for and it’s the game I still want to play.”
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Khaira returned to action less than a month after the hit and played in nine games before undergoing lower-back surgery in February, which ended his season prematurely. He was put on a 10-12-week timetable and had a full summer of offseason training, with no hiccups.
Khaira is healthy and feeling appreciative of starting this season with a clean slate.
“There’s nothing better,” Khaira said. “Last year was an injury-riddled year for me. To come here and be healthy, being able to compete with my teammates against the best players in the world, it’s something I’ve always wanted to do. You never want to sit on the sidelines, so when you get a chance to get back at it, it really shows you how much it’s worth it.”
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