Taylor Hall‘s 2011-12 season is over, the Edmonton Oilers confirmed the news via twitter today.

Hall’s shoulder issue is what finally ended a season in which he took more than his fair share of lumps. He’ll have surgery on the shoulder and be out of action for five to six months. That ends any shot of him playing in the upcoming world championships as well, but ideally will help him be at 100 percent for the 2012-13 NHL campaign. Despite the rash of injuries, the former No. 1 pick posted 53 points in 61 games this season.

Vancouver Canucks coach Alain Vigneault says injured winger Daniel Sedin has a concussion.

The team remains mum on the left wing’s condition, or if he will be able to return to action before the playoffs.

“He’s got a concussion, and when we have something more to say, we’ll say it,” said Vigneault ahead of Vancouver’s game against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday night. “We’re just going to follow the concussion protocol, and when we have more, we’ll share it with you.”

Sedin was sidelined Wednesday by an elbow to the head from Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith that resulted in a five-game suspension.

Terry Koshan of the Toronto Sun acknowledges the possibility that Jonas Gustavsson has played his last game in a Maple Leaf’s uniform. Gustavsson is an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. With James Reimer signed for two more years after this, the Leafs (and their fans) have made no secret about being disappointed with the play in net at times this year. With goalies like Josh Harding and Tomas Vokoun potentially available this summer, it’s not a stretch to think Gustavsson could be elsewhere in 2012-13.

The Columbus Blue Jackets have reportedly been scouting the top three to four players “extensively for months now,” the Columbus Dispatch’s Aaron Portzline reports, adding, “Would they consider trading No. 1 pick? Sure, but deal has to be right.”

With last night’s loss, the Jackets clinched the worst record in the NHL, which means they can’t pick worst than No. 2. The majority of scouts believe Nail Yakupov is the top player in this draft but if they end up with the No. 2 pick, there’s less consensus that fellow Russian Mikhail Grigorenko is the second-best player and given the Jackets’ experience with Russians, they may shy away from that direction.

The three guys the Jackets have been scouting are probably Nail Yakupov, Mikhail Grigorenko and Filip Forsberg  and maybe one of the top defensemen, Matt Dumba or Ryan Murray.

The Nashville Predators could trade Anders Lindback this summer to a team looking for a starting goalie. But that may depend on whether the 6-foot-6 goalie has convinced other clubs that he can handle a starter’s workload, the Boston Globe’s Fluto Shinzawa writes.

There are definitely scouts who think he can be a very good starter in this league, but because he is stuck behind Pekka Rinne he hasn’t had much of an opportunity to play for extended periods of time. The Tampa Bay Lightning or Columbus Blue Jackets could be teams interested in investing in Lindback if they are unable to to get either Jonathan Bernier and Cory Schneider.

Boston Bruins signed Torey Krug to a three-year, entry-level contract on Sunday.

Quebec City says it will begin construction on a new NHL-style arena in September.

Mayor Regis Labeaume says the $400 million arena will hold about 18,000 people, saying it would be comparable to the Pittsburgh Penguins’ new building.

“Today, the dream becomes a reality,” he said at a news conference Sunday.

The arena is expected to be completed by September 2015.

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Weekend round up of NHL news and rumors.

• Toronto Sun’s Steve Simmons writes, “Word is, Patrick Roy has unofficially been on retainer from Quebec NHL interests for almost two years now.” Simmons adds that it’s “highly unlikely” Roy ends up in Montreal, which is certainly different from what was being reported in the past few weeks, when there were reports that Roy was all but officially hired as the next Montreal Canadiens head coach replacing Randy Cunneyworth.
• Erik Johnson will be a restricted free agent at season’s end, and the former No. 1 pick is looking for a long-term deal. Johnson told the Denver Post, “I want to be here for the long term, that’s my first priority, staying here and accomplishing what we want to accomplish.”
• Simon Gagne will probably be out the rest of the season after suffering a concussion, which has led to some talk that he could retire. But that’s apparently not in the plans, as RDS’s Renaud Lavoie writes that the retirement talk for Gagne is exaggerated, and that he’s “working hard to come back this season, or playoffs. For sure he’ll play in the next season.”
• The Edmonton Oilers could shut Taylor Hall down for the rest of this season because of his concussion symptoms. Hockey Night in Canada’s Eric Francis believes there has been serious talk in the organization of doing exactly that, but he adds that no final decision has been made.
• The Edmonton Journal’s Jim Matheson writes,  Tampa Bay General Manager Steve Yzerman has a “serious eye” on Jonathan Bernier of the Los Angeles Kings, because Tampa Bay’s head of amateur scouting, Al Murray, used to work for the Kings and was behind them taking Bernier in Round 1.
• Colorado Avalanche forward Chuck Kobasew was fined $2,500 by the NHL on Sunday for charging Vancouver defenseman Aaron Rome on Saturday night.
• Phoenix Coyotes forward Alexandre Bolduc has been fined $2,500, the maximum allowed under the Collective Bargaining Agreement, for slew-footing San Jose Sharks forward Ryane Clowe during the game in San Jose on Saturday, the National Hockey League’s Department of Player Safety announced today.

ESPNChicago reports that Chicago Blackhawks defenseman Duncan Keith was suspended for five games without pay by the NHL on Friday for elbowing Vancouver Canucks star Daniel Sedin in the head.

Keith lunged at Sedin in the neutral zone in the first period of Chicago’s 2-1 overtime victory Wednesday night, hitting Sedin in the head. Sedin didn’t have the puck at the time.

Keith was given a minor penalty for elbowing. The suspension will cost him $149,688.

“We respect the league’s decision and move forward from this point on and try to renew a playoff position and secure the highest seeding possible,” Canucks assistant general manager Laurence Gilman said. “That being said, our priority, obviously, is Daniel’s health and well-being.”

Forward Joonas Rask, the younger brother of Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask, has signed a two-year entry-level contract with the Nashville Predators.

The Savonlinna, Finland native was a seventh-round pick (No. 198) by the Predators in the 2010 NHL Draft.

Rask, 21, recently completed his fourth season with Ilves of the Finnish League (SM-Liiga), posting 4 goals and 15 points in 29 games. In 156 SM-Liiga games since 2008, the 5-foot-10, 176-pound center has 29 goals, 62 points and 70 penalty minutes.

Rask represented Finland at both the 2009 and 2010 World Junior Championship, and captained his homeland’s club at the 2008 Under-18 World Championship, being named one of team’s three best players.