The bout with COVID-19. The hit. The back surgery. Chicago Blackhawks forward Jujhar Khaira battled through a ‘grind’ of a rehab. ‘I remember it all.’

Chicago Blackhawks forward Jujhar Khaira summed up a chaotic, star-crossed 2021-22 season perfectly: “There was always something.”

“It started with COVID and then that hit and then back surgery,” he said Friday about his trevails last season. “It was tough to get momentum last year.”

• He was placed into the COVID-19 protocol Oct. 24.
• “That hit” referred to a hard check by New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba on Dec. 7 that resulted in him being stretchered off the ice, hospitalized for a night and placed on injured reserve under concussion protocol.
• Then Khaira was placed on injured reserve with lower back problems in mid-January and had surgery Feb. 22.

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Khaira confirmed Trouba’s assertion last season that Trouba reached out to him, and Khaira said he responded to his message.

That doesn’t mean everything’s butterflies and bygones.

“I remember it all,” Khaira said. “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 and I’m just looking forward to the future here.”

Khaira was pressed whether he considered the collision a dirty hit.

“We all have our opinions,” he said. “That’s all I’m going to say.”

But, he added: “It is hockey. It’s happened before. You’ve seen other guys go through it.

“It’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 we want to play.”

Khaira was cleared from the concussion protocol just before the new year and had hoped to put a series of turbulent events behind him.

Keep in mind the general manager (Stan Bowman) and coach (Jeremy Colliton) he signed up in the offseason to play for had stepped down and been fired, respectively, by early November.

Then interim coach Derek King said in early January: “You come in here as a new player, and then all that (stuff) hits the fan, and it’s like, ‘What did I get myself into? What’s going on here?’ You’re not used to stuff like this going on through organizations.”

King at the time said Khaira rebounded from the stint on concussion protocol and was playing solidly.

“He’s feeling pretty comfortable with the head injury (and) the body,” King said. “Keep building and building off of that.”

Khaira wasn’t able to do that.

By late January, King said Khaira was having back spasms.

Khaira had surgery in late February, and rehab was a “grind.”

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“It was a tough road,” he said. “We’re so used to being in shape and well-conditioned and all that, and you have to take a month off or whatever to let it heal up before you can start slowly getting into exercises.

“But mentally you think you should be able to do (more).”

Khaira said he was able to have a full offseason, his health and his game have returned and he has put that “injury-riddled year” behind him.

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“That’s in the past now and I’m looking forward to the future here,” he said. “It’s good to be back and healthy and able to participate in everything.”

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Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson, a former player, noted how Khaira also had a scare in April 2021 when he was with the Edmonton Oilers.

“I was in Edmonton … when (the Montreal Canadiens’ Alexander) Romanov caught him with the hit, and he had a concussion,” said Richardson, who was on the Canadiens coaching staff.

“Last year, I didn’t see the injuries he did sustain but I know they were pretty severe. But he looks like he’s in great shape and he’s a great skater, very conscious defensive player, but I think he has some skill with the puck.”

“Those are intangible utility players you can use.”

Richardson plans to deploy Khaira as a depth center to check opponents’ top lines and kill penalties, roles he served last season.

“If they aren’t really ready that night and they turn pucks over, he can do something with it, and I think that’s valuable for the coach,” Richardson said.