The Chicago Blackhawks have had a busy couple of days. Not only did they lose two more back-to-back contests over the weekend (3-2 to the St. Louis Blues and 4-0 to the Detroit Red Wings), but they will be without their most important player for an extended period of time. There’s also other injury updates and a few call ups from the Rockford IceHogs to report. Plus, we’ll get a pulse on the state of the team as they head to Canada for a three-game road trip.
Let’s get to the latest news and rumors.
The most important update to share is the loss of the Blackhawks’ top scorer and young superstar, Connor Bedard. The injury happened on Friday (Dec. 12), when the Hawks were trying to mount a comeback from a 3-2 deficit to force overtime. With less than a second remaining in the game, Bedard was attempting to win the faceoff and somehow get a shot off. Here’s the play in question.
Oh man, Connor Bedard is in some serious discomfort and heads straight to the locker room after the final horn sounds. #Blackhawks pic.twitter.com/fYCP4caEjI
— Charlie Roumeliotis (@CRoumeliotis) December 13, 2025
At some point as Bedard was extending to lean into the faceoff, he injured his right shoulder. The Blackhawks are officially calling it an upper body injury. Bedard underwent testing over the weekend, and the Blackhawks officially put him on injured reserve on Monday, Dec. 15, retroactive to Dec. 12.
After practice on Monday, head coach Jeff Blashill indicated Bedard will be out through the New Year, and will be re-evaluated at that time. He also said surgery was not being considered; it would be completely rehabilitation at this point.
The good news is this certainly doesn’t sound like a season-ending injury. The Blackhawks have games on Jan. 1st, 3rd and 4th, which are all obviously very early in the new year. If Bedard were to return on Jan. 7 versus the Blues, he’d be missing 11 games. Not ideal, but not the end of the world, either. To add some levity to the situation, Blashill said,
I think he wants to be back next week. And, that’s kind of the approach that he takes. He wants to be back. (chuckling) He would have preferred, I said, day-to-day … but the reality is we won’t let him do that before after the new year.
We all remember how hard Bedard worked, and then begged, to return after his broken jaw in his rookie season (2023-24). So hopefully this will be the same type of situation.
Brossoit Finishes Conditioning Stint, Placed on Waivers
In conjunction with Bedard being placed on IR, the Blackhawks announced that goaltender Laurent Brossoit had finished his conditioning stint with the Rockford IceHogs and was recalled to the big club. He did attend practice with the Blackhawks on Monday.
Brossoit has endured a rough couple of years. He missed all of the 2024-25 season due to knee surgery and complications to his right knee. When it didn’t heal, the 32-year-old got his right hip checked. It was discovered he had a cam lesion; a bump on the head of his femur that was grinding down cartilage inside the joint. After getting his femoral head shaved down, he finally started to feel better. Upon thinking his hockey career might be over, Brossoit was thrilled to be able to start conditioning and training again.
Related – Tyler Bertuzzi’s Unique Skillset Driving Blackhawks’ Success
Brossoit’s conditioning stint in Rockford entailed three games, two wins and one loss. To top it all off, he earned an empty net goal in the IceHogs’ 5-3 win over the Milwaukee Admirals on Saturday, Dec. 12. He recently discussed his time in Rockford.
Quite the conditioning stint for Brossoit. You can hear how motivated he is after his win and goal this weekend 🎙️ pic.twitter.com/ELPMTyw9eF
— Dana Grey (@DanaGrey0) December 15, 2025
“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.” It’s great to hear Brossoit is now healthy and able to play again.
The Blackhawks placed Brossoit on waivers on Monday, and if he clears they said he’ll head back to the IceHogs. The Blackhawks already have their duo in net with Spencer Knight and Arvid Soderblom. It’s also possible another team that’s hurting in goal will claim Brossoit.
Defenseman Del Mastro Recalled
IceHogs’ defenseman Ethan Del Mastro was also called up to the Blackhawks on Monday. The blueliner was likely recalled so the team can have some insurance with seven defensemen on their upcoming three-game road trip to Canada. The Blackhawks have been deploying an unconventional lineup of seven defensemen most of their season so far, but that was primarily to protect their young right-handed D-men, namely Artyom Levshunov and Sam Rinzel.
Related – Louis Crevier’s Strong Start Bringing Positive Outlook to Blackhawks
Since then, Rinzel was sent down to the IceHogs for a “reset” in Dec. 8. The Blackhawks have iced six defensemen for the last two games, and Levshunov logged a team-high 22:23 and 23:59 minutes in both. Coach obviously has more faith in the Belarusian blueliner, who has improved since the beginning of the season. Besides, Del Mastro is a left-handed defenseman. Calling him up for the purposes of icing seven defensemen doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.
Del Mastro did suit up for 24 games for the Blackhawks last season, registering two goals and six points in 24 games. This season in Rockford he’s contributed one goal and 11 points in 27 games. Per Blashill, “I know he’s a good defenseman. I know he’s capable of helping us if needed. And so we’ll see where it goes.”
The “if needed” doesn’t sound all that promising for Del Mastro. We shall see if the 22-year-old receives any playing time during his call up.
Foligno Will Travel With Blackhawks on Road Trip
Some good news on the Blackhawks’ front is that their captain, Nick Foligno, has been skating before practices for a few days now, and will be going on the trip to Canada. Foligno sustained a hand/wrist injury on Nov. 15, while blocking a shot against Toronto Maple Leafs’ Jake McCabe. His timeline was set for four weeks, which is right about now.
Blashill simply said that Foligno might play, and he might not play. He hasn’t actually practiced with the team yet, so my guess is we might not see him in the lineup until the Blackhawks play the Ottawa Senators on Saturday (Dec. 20), if at all.
Obviously Foligno will be a nice boost to the lineup when he does return.
Blashill Shows Some Emotion at Practice
As mentioned at the beginning of this piece, the Blackhawks have lost their last two games. As a matter of fact, they’ve lost four of their last five contests. Last weekend they were blown out 6-0 and 7-1, by the Los Angeles Kings and Anaheim Ducks, respectively.
Yes, this is a young team, and consistency is always an issue with a young team. But Blashill’s patience seems to be wearing thin, as he had a couple of angry outbursts towards the players on Monday.
Blackhawks running the same lines in practice today as they used Saturday.
Levshunov just missed his rep in a 5-on-5 drill and got absolutely reamed out by Blashill to “wake the F up.” That’s the angriest I’ve ever seen him.
— Ben Pope (@BenPopeCST) December 15, 2025
In another situation, Blashill yelled at the whole group in general about “showing up on time”. It’s quite uncommon to get this from the head coach; he usually quite calm and even-keeled. Said Blashill about it,
I come to practice not frustrated. I think frustration’s a waste of human emotion. I’ve said that lots. But sometimes we need heightened awareness. My job is to make sure that we’re not letting that urgency slip at all. What did I take from practice? We got better in some areas. But we gotta keep working.
It appears a little bit of complacency might creeping into the lineup, and Blashill is doing his best to negate that. I’m sure it’s rough when the team is losing, and then they also lose their best player on top of it. But in a perfect world, this should be taken as an opportunity for others to step up. Which is a perfect segue into my final section.
Lardis Has Opportunity With Bedard Out
It will have to be a group effort to replace Bedard and his playmaking abilities and scoring touch. Names that immediately come to mind are Frank Nazar, Tyler Bertuzzi and Andre Burakovsky. But another player that could potentially contribute is Nick Lardis. After all, Lardis might not have even gotten this opportunity if it wasn’t for Bedard’s misfortune. He’s so young that expectations should be kept to a minimum. But as Blashill said, that doesn’t mean he can’t find some success.
In his NHL debut on Saturday (Dec. 13), Lardis recorded two shots on goal, eight shot attempts, five hits and one blocked shot in 15:32 minutes of ice time. It was really quite a nice debut for him. Teammate Jason Dickinson put it best when asked about what Lardis could contribute.
So it opens an opportunity for Lards to get some looks. In a situation where otherwise Lards might not get power play-one time (first unit), he might not get a top-six role. This opens the door that he gets kind of handed a job to, not run free with, but to say, hey, this is an opportunity given to you under the circumstances that may not have been here otherwise. So take advantage of it. Because I’ve found often that this league is based on opportunity, and when the opportunity comes knocking, be ready to take it.
Well said by Dickinson! Now I want to go run through a brick wall, and I hope Lardis does too. It might not be the best hockey while Bedard is out, but we’ll see just who can become the next man up, and take advantage of what’s in front of them.
Related – Blackhawks’ Prospect Nick Lardis Is Equipped for 1st Pro Season
The Blackhawks face the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday (Dec. 16), the Montreal Canadiens (Dec. 18), and the Ottawa Senators on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 20). Can they show Coach Blashill they’re ready to show up on time and give their best? Who will step up? And can the Blackhawks perhaps find some more wins?
