{"id":397783,"date":"2026-01-09T19:31:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-09T19:31:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/397783\/"},"modified":"2026-01-09T19:31:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T19:31:07","slug":"blackhawks-bedard-shoulder-to-return-after-12-game-absence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/397783\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackhawks’ Bedard (shoulder) to return after 12-game absence"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO — Chicago Blackhawks<\/a> forward Connor Bedard<\/a> is back after missing 12 games with a right shoulder injury.<\/p>\n

Bedard, 20, has been cleared to play Friday night against Washington. The center participated in the team’s morning skate ahead of the matchup with the Capitals.<\/p>\n

“It’s obviously a huge boost,” assistant coach Mike Vellucci said. “He’s a big part of our team and he was playing really well before he got injured. We’re excited to have him back.”<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/p>\n

While Bedard is set to return, the Blackhawks could be missing a couple of key players against the Capitals because of an illness going around the team. Captain Nick Foligno<\/a>, forward Ilya Mikheyev<\/a>, backup goaltender Arvid Soderblom<\/a> and coach Jeff Blashill missed the morning skate.<\/p>\n

Bedard got hurt on a draw with 0.8 seconds left in a 3-2 loss at St. Louis on Dec. 12. He ranked among the NHL leaders with 19 goals and 25 assists in 31 games at the time of the injury.<\/p>\n

“I feel good,” Bedard said. “Obviously it’s no fun kind of waiting and not being able to play. So it’s exciting.”<\/p>\n

Bedard and fellow center Frank Nazar<\/a> were shelved during a stretch of 10 losses in 12 games for Chicago. But the Blackhawks have flourished of late, winning a season-high four in a row going into the Washington game.<\/p>\n

“It’s an exciting time and for us just to keep that rolling and obviously keep stacking wins because every game’s so important,” Bedard said.<\/p>\n

Nazar, who turns 22 on Wednesday, is skating again, but there has been no word on when he might return to the lineup. He was hit in the face by a puck during a 6-4 loss at Ottawa on Dec. 20.<\/p>\n

Bedard was selected by Chicago with the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft. He missed part of his rookie season with a broken jaw, but he played in all 82 games last year.<\/p>\n

“No one wants to have anything happen, but it’s part of the game,” Bedard said. “You just got to try to take that time to get better.”<\/p>\n

Bedard’s fast start moved him into contention for a spot on Team Canada for the Winter Olympics. But he was left off the roster when it was announced last week.<\/p>\n

Bedard still could make the trip to Italy if he is needed as an injury replacement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO — Chicago Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard is back after missing 12 games with a right shoulder injury.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":397784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-397783","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=397783"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/397783\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/397784"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=397783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=397783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=397783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}