It was another centennial celebration for the Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday. This time, some alumni put on their old threads.
Chris Chelios, Jeremy Roenick, Gary Suter, Bob Murray and Brian Noonan skated across the ice and were cheered on by the United Center faithful. The 2025-26 Hawks came out to join them shortly after.
One player who wasn’t on the ice for the matchup against the Detroit Red Wings was Connor Bedard, who suffered a shoulder injury a day prior and missed a game for the first time since his rookie season. The puck dropped and it was time to see how the Hawks would play without their star.
And well … they might want to forget this one.
The Hawks were outclassed in a 4-0 loss — their fourth in five games. Right wing Alex DeBrincat worked the puck past goaltender Arvid Söderblom 55 seconds in and the visitors never looked back, cruising to their fourth win in five games.
“When you get scored on right away, that’s a bit of a gut punch,” Hawks coach Jeff Blashill said. “I don’t know if I’d classify it’d as (that) bad, to be honest with you.
“I thought we had chances in the first that we didn’t convert on and they converted, so then the score is what the score is and we’re chasing it. You can say to me (that) they’re sitting on a lead, (but) it was (4-0), it wasn’t 10-0.”
Bedard, who leads the Hawks with 19 goals and 25 assists in 31 games, underwent an MRI on Saturday, and the Hawks are still awaiting clarity on the severity of the injury, per Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman. Bedard was injured on a last-second faceoff Friday night in a 3-2 road loss to the St. Louis Blues.
Blashill said he doesn’t expect Bedard to travel with the team on its upcoming three-game Canadian trip, which begins Tuesday night in Toronto.
Blashill made lineup adjustments in the absence of Bedard. One included recalling 20-year-old forward Nick Lardis from the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, who had a hectic journey for his NHL debut.
“We were heading to Grand Rapids (Michigan) yesterday night,” Lardis said. “We were about 15 minutes out and I got the call, so we had to turn the buses back around. It was pretty crazy. I drove in here pretty late last night. I didn’t go to bed until 3 or 4 a.m. It was hard to sleep, but it was a cool memory for sure.”
The winger played on the third line with Oliver Moore and Ryan Greene. It’s a young line, but Blashill did this with intent.
“I wanted him to be comfortable,” Blashill said. “I think sometimes when you come up and play your first game, you start deferring. He’s played with (Moore) this year. (Greene), they’re similar ages. (They can) come up and play, and I thought they did a good job of that.”
Lardis had two shots on goal and skated in Bedard’s spot on the top power-play unit in his 15:32 of ice time. He was a bit starstruck, which was expected for a 20-year-old seeing his first NHL action.
“It was pretty special playing against Detroit (with) Patrick Kane in the building,” Lardis said. “It was a lot of fun.”
Everything you can say about Kane and the Hawks already has been written, but the 19-year veteran proved he still can put on a show at the United Center, even at age 37. He and DeBrincat — both of whom played for the Hawks — worked seamlessly on a 2-on-1 breakaway created by a Connor Murphy turnover, with Kane putting the Red Wings up 2-0 at 4:35 of the first.
It was Kane’s 498th career goal and seventh point against the Hawks. He needs two goals to become the 50th player in NHL history to reach 500. Debrincat added an empty-net goal with 3:46 to play in the third.
In the wake of Bedard’s injury, Blashill also moved Frank Nazar to the top-line center. It was more of the same for Nazar, whose run of games without a goal hit 20 in the loss.
Nazar’s last goal came on Oct. 28, and without Bedard, the Hawks need the 21-year-old forward to regain the form that saw him register five goals and six assists in the season’s first 10 games. Blashill wants Nazar to keep at it and not lose confidence.
“I can’t sit here and say that stuff doesn’t wear (because) of course it does,” Blashill said. “If he plays like he did tonight, he’ll get the rewards he wants.”
It was the second half of a back-to-back and 24 hours removed from Bedard’s “freak” injury. And while it wasn’t an encouraging showing from the Hawks, they’ll have a few days to regroup and try to figure out how to replace Bedard.
“Any time you lose a player, how much you feel that loss depends on how well the guys that are in the lineup play,” Blashill said. “Connor has been a great player for us (and) he’s been a go-to guy for us, there’s zero doubt about that.
“Connor is a guy that can change the game on one shot. You lost that in your lineup, so then let’s find ways to make sure that our details are great defensively. If anything, it should just heighten our awareness. This is stuff that we want to get better at anyways, it just makes it even more important right now.”