NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Chicago Blackhawks held their morning skate Thursday at Bridgestone Arena before facing the Nashville Predators in their first game in three weeks. Practice is essential, but even coach Jeff Blashill admitted he was looking forward to returning to the swing of things.
“(I’m) definitely ready to get going,” Blashill said. “It’s going to be a sprint here to the end of the season.”
Hawks players agreed with their coach. They want nothing more than for game action to resume and for things to get back to normal after the long Winter Olympics layoff.
“I wouldn’t say (the break) was needed, but I say (it was) a beneficial time to refresh physically and mentally,” center Connor Bedard said. “Practicing is fun but we do this so we can play. That’s what we love to do.
“(We’ve been working on) special teams and a lot of D-zone coverage. Those two have been big.”
It’s been an interesting season for the 20-year-old star. He was putting together a Hart Trophy-caliber start to the campaign and broke Hawks franchise records in the process.
Then it all came to a halt Dec. 12 in St. Louis when he suffered a right shoulder injury in the final second of a loss to the Blues. He missed 12 games, and the Hawks went 5-6-1 in his absence.
That injury could have plagued his chances at an NHL season award and very well may have kept him off the Team Canada roster for the Milan Cortina Olympics. He watched as his home country fell short against the United States in the gold-medal game.
Bedard entered Thursday with 53 points — 23 goals, 30 assists — in 43 games this season, and he has more points — 181 and counting in his third season — before turning 21 than any player in franchise history.
No point in dwelling on the past, though. The Hawks (22-26-9, 53 points) entered Thursday with 25 games left to increase their playoff chances, which sit at 0.9%.
Blashill said Bedard will be taking faceoffs again and going back to a “true center role” — in other words, normal hockey for the Canadian standout.
“It’s nice to play your full position, I’m looking forward to that,” Bedard said. “I think (my shoulder’s) fine, we got smart people so I trust them, (so) you just go out there and play, but I feel good.”
It hasn’t happened frequently, but Bedard spent some time as a wing when he returned from his injury. Centers Ryan Greene, Oliver Moore and others have spent a good chunk of games skating as wingers to Bedard, Frank Nazar and Jason Dickinson.
Bedard also has seen plenty of wingmates this season: Nazar, Greene, André Burakovsky, Tyler Bertuzzi and Ilya Mikheyev, among others.
Bedard prefers his natural position but sees the importance in dabbling elsewhere at times.
“You can flip the lines if you need or whatnot,” Bedard said. “I’m a center, and I feel like I’m a center, so that’s where I want to be.”
Goalie depth
The Hawks signed goaltender Olivier Rodrigue to a one-year, two-way contract through the 2025-26 season. The deal has a $775,000 salary-cap hit.
The move gives the Rockford IceHogs a backup in goal after Stanislav Berezhnoy was hit with a lengthy suspension Tuesday. He was suspended for 20 games for violating the terms of the AHL/PHPA Performance Enhancing Substance Program and won’t be eligible to play until April 11.
Rodrigue, 25, was selected in the second round (No. 62) in the 2018 draft by the Edmonton Oilers. He played 131 games with their AHL affiliate Bakersfield Condors, compiling a 61-52-17 record, 2.92 goals-against-average, .905 save percentage and two shutouts. He started two games for the Oilers in 2024-25.