Big development in the McEichel Derby — on Tuesday, the Oilers announced that Taylor Hall was placed on IR:

#Oilers recall forward Ryan Hamilton and goalie Richard Bachman (emergency), place forwards Taylor Hall and Benoit Pouliot on IR.

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) February 10, 2015

“He took a slash in the same area… We got the MRI and discovered it was a new injury.” – Nelson on @hallsy04 injuries vs. San Jose

— Edmonton Oilers (@EdmontonOilers) February 10, 2015

Per TSN’s Bob McKenzie, the suspicion is Hall suffered a “bone bruise’ that morphed into a fracture, and will miss the next 4-6 weeks as a result.

Two takeaways…

1) Will Hall play again this year? Assuming he misses the full six weeks, that puts a potential return around Mar. 24, at which point the Oilers will have 10 games left in the regular season. For a guy with a long, troubling history of health concerns — he’s now missed 60 games over his first four-and-a-half years in the NHL — the idea of shutting it down isn’t far-fetched, especially since it could benefit Edmonton in the aforementioned McEichel Derby (but hey, nobody tanks in the NHL.)

(Right?)

2) This latest injury will be a jumping off point for discussions about his future in Edmonton. This is, without question, another disappointing campaign; the Oilers are going to finish well out of the playoff picture and Hall, he of the $42 million deal and $6M cap hit, is on pace for his worst offensive campaign since he was a rookie (difficult to extrapolate given all the time he’s missed, but Hall’s current .71 points-per-game average is his lowest since breaking in during 2010-11.)

Remember, Hall’s already been the subject of trade rumors this year.