Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard skated on the ice before practice Monday, the first time he has been in uniform since suffering a right shoulder injury Dec. 12 in St. Louis.
Hawks coach Jeff Blashill knew it would be hard to keep his star forward off the ice for an extended period. The timeline appears to remain that Bedard will be reevaluated in January, but his skating is a good sign.
“Connor wants to be back tomorrow, so it’s going to be more of a matter of us holding him back to the right time, but he’ll keep pushing,” Blashill said. “It’s a good sign, but the timeline’s probably still going to be the timeline and we’ll work through it.”
Bedard injured his shoulder in what Blashill called a “freak accident” in the waning seconds of a 3-2 road loss to the Blues. Center Brayden Schenn pushed through Bedard to prevent a last-second shot, and Bedard skated off the ice in clear pain.
The Hawks have felt the absence of their best player. They’re 1-6-0 in the seven games Bedard has missed and have been outscored 30-15 in that stretch.
After a 7-3 drubbing by the Pittsburgh Penguins on Sunday night, Blashill made it clear he’s grateful for this team, even through the rough streaks. He said it was genuine reassurance rather than just saying what the players needed to hear.
“I’ve been through different struggles with different teams at different times, (but) this is a team I loved coming to work with today,” Blashill said Monday. “I believe in what their potential is as a group, not just in the future but now.
“There’s way more pointing thumbs than pointing fingers in this group, and it’s just a group I really enjoy being around because they’re good people (and) they’re really good competitors and they’re guys who want to continue to improve.”
Captain Nick Foligno practiced Monday after playing his first game since Nov. 15 on Sunday. He scored his first goal of the season in the second period.
In the corresponding move to Foligno’s activation Sunday, center Frank Nazar was assigned to injured reserve retroactive to Dec. 20. He’s healing after taking a puck to the face in a 6-4 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Dec. 20.
“I think he moved toward chewing food like salmon, he told me last night, so that’s a positive,” Blashill said. “You have to let it heal, but that’s probably a serious thing. The more (food) you start to intake, the less weight you lose and the more ready you are when you get back.”
Right wing Ilya Mikheyev returned to practice after missing the weekend back-to-back versus the Dallas Stars and Penguins for the birth of his first child with wife Kristina.