Connor Bedard already had an uphill battle to get the call for Team Canada and now it has only gotten steeper.
The Chicago Blackhawks centre was placed on injured reserve on Monday with an upper-body injury, with the move retroactive to Dec. 12.
The first-overall pick from the 2023 NHL draft had put himself into contention to make Canada’s roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics this coming February in Milano-Cortina, Italy.
Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill said that while the 20-year-old centre will be reevaluated in the new year, he will not require surgery.
Bedard was injured while taking a faceoff with less than a second remaining in Friday’s game against the St. Louis Blues. Trailing 3-2 and in the Blues’ offensive zone, Bedard attempted to win the draw to create one final chance, but was knocked backwards to the ice by St. Louis centre Brayden Schenn as time expired.
Bedard immediately grabbed his right shoulder and headed to the locker room, accompanied by a trainer.
Blashill said after the game that he didn’t think that the play was dirty on Schenn’s behalf.
“Honestly, I think it’s a freak accident,” Blashill said.
The coach said that despite Bedard’s desire to get back on the ice, he won’t be back until the new year.
“He wants to be back next week. That’s the approach that he takes, he wants to be back,” Blashill said, according to Ben Pope of Chicago Sun-Times. “He would’ve preferred I had said ‘day-to-day.’ But … the reality is we won’t let him do that before after the New Year.”
Will Bedard make Team Canada?
Earlier this month, Team Canada general manager Doug Armstrong spoke glowingly of Bedard and fellow young star Macklin Celerbini.
“They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do, in the sense that we wanted to take the first two or three months to give everybody an opportunity to play their way onto the team, or at least to be talked about as contenders,” Armstrong told Mike Zeisberger of NHL.com. “There are a young group of players who certainly have done that.”
However, with the deadline to name the roster for the Games falling on Dec. 31, Armstrong could be hard pressed to include Bedard, who will still be on the shelf.
Solid statline
Heading into Monday’s games, Bedard ranked fourth in the league with 44 points in 31 games and his 19 goals had him tied for fifth. He was well on his way to setting a career-high in goals after scoring 23 last season.
Bedard already missed Saturday’s 4-0 loss to the Detroit Red Wings and will miss at least the team’s next seven games.
The Blackhawks are in action next on Tuesday night in Toronto against the Maple Leafs, who have issues of their own to deal with.
In a corresponding move, the Blackhawks also recalled defenceman Ethan Del Mastro and goaltender Laurent Brossoit from Rockford of the American Hockey League. Brossoit had been in the minors on a conditioning assignment while Del Mastro has two goals and four assists in 27 career NHL games.
The 2026 Winter Games marks the return of NHL players after having been absent from the 2018 and 2022, which were hosted by Pyeongchang, South Korea and Beijing, China, respectively.