Taylor Hall appears to throw his coach under the bus.

Chicago Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson attempted to send a message to his players over the weekend by benching one of his most well respected veteran forwards, but I now have to wonder about how that message may have been received by the player in question.

For those of you who don't know, veteran National Hockey League forward Taylor Hall was made a healthy scratch ahead of a game against the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday, a decision that came off the heels of a loss to the Seattle Kraken on Thursday. Hall was largely a non-factor in the loss to the Kraken registering just a single shot on goal over 15 shifts that accounted for 13 minutes and 23 seconds of ice time, finishing the game with an even plus minus rating of 0.

The decision to scratch Hall for the game against the Canucks caught many off guard and it would now appear as though Hall was among that group. Speaking to reporters on Monday, Hall did not seem pleased about the decision and even appeared to openly question why he had suddenly been scratched.

"I was surprised by it," admitted Hall on Monday. " It was unexpected from the standpoint of I just didn’t know I was even close to being in that spot, really."

Perhaps even more concerning however was the reason why Hall was left to question the decision from his head coach. According to Hall's comments, there was no communication from the coaching staff leading up to the decision that could have prepared him for the possibility

"If there were some conversations in the days leading up about my game or if I was constantly being shown video it would be one thing, but I was a bit surprised," said Hall.

Judging by the response from Blackhawks fans, it would appear that most are sympathetic to Hall in this situation.

It will be interesting to see how Luke Richardson responds to having his decisions publicly questioned by one of his players.