Hawks' Carcillo to have season-ending knee surgery

CHICAGO -- After almost two weeks of assessing their options, the Chicago Blackhawks announced Friday that forward Daniel Carcillo will have knee surgery to repair the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

According to a statement released by head team physician Dr. Michael Terry, the surgery will be performed on Tuesday and will likely keep Carcillo out for six months -- effectively ending his season. Carcillo, 26, signed a one-year contract with Chicago as an unrestricted free agent last summer.

"This decision was made today after much evaluation and consideration of various options," Terry said in the release. "We anticipate a full return in six months."

Daniel Carcillo

Left Wing - CHI

GOALS: 2 | ASST: 9 | PTS: 11
SOG: 27 | +/-: 10

Carcillo injured the knee delivering a hit on Jan. 2 at the United Center to Edmonton Oilers defenseman Tom Gilbert. Carcillo chipped the puck past Gilbert in the offensive zone and went to retrieve it behind the net with Gilbert also going to play the puck. Gilbert appeared to slow up to deliver a counter hit, but Carcillo knocked him into the boards headfirst from the goal line and was given a boarding major plus a game misconduct.

After the hit, Gilbert's body hit the boards and bounced back onto Carcillo's leg. Carcillo then needed assistance skating off the ice and appeared to put weight on only one leg. The League gave Carcillo a seven-game suspension for the hit, which also injured Gilbert.

Carcillo had been back just two games after an upper-body injury believed to be a concussion held him out for six contests.

Carcillo was also suspended for two games in late October for a check from behind on Oct. 28 against Carolina's Joni Pitkanen that wasn't penalized and started the season with a two-game suspension that carried over from an incident stemming from last season's playoffs, when he was a member of the Philadelphia Flyers.

Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman added Carcillo to his roster on the first day of free agency last summer as part of an effort to add grit and toughness to an already-talented core group of skilled stars. Carcillo appeared to change his game somewhat to fit into the mix in Chicago, and even spent time on both the first and second lines.

Carcillo had two goals and 11 points in 28 games and piled up a plus-10 rating to go with 82 penalty minutes.