The Chicago Blackhawks play their first game of the 2026-27 season tonight. They will be without their captain, Connor Bedard.
Bedard is still dealing with a shoulder injury sustained in training this summer. Head Coach Jeff Blashill recently confirmed that he is not ready to return to practice with the team.
The team has no choice but to move forward and try to win games without their captain. With the NHL preseason over, the Blackhawks must assess their strengths and weaknesses. The start of their season depends on building opportunities that don’t rely on Bedard.
Chicago Preseason Takeaways
The Blackhawks won two of their four preseason games in the past few days against the Minnesota Wild and the St. Louis Blues. Both wins took place at the United Center and placed Chicago in the middle of the pack performance-wise. A variety of players got ice time, and many looked promising.
With several new additions, the Blackhawks coaching staff had a lot of decisions to make about tonight’s lineup and the final roster.
In the past week, the Blackhawks have sent several players to their AHL affiliate, the Rockford IceHogs. Some key names include Drew Commesso and Sacha Boisvert. Landon Slaggert and Dominic Toninato were placed on waivers with the purpose of assignment to Rockford.
The preseason also reinforced the concerns for Chicago’s defense. Bowen Byram and Alex Vlasic worked well together and highlighted each other’s traits on the ice. However, the Blackhawks need more from their younger defensemen, and they need to reduce their mistakes.
In the 2025-26 season, Chicago finished 31st in five-on-five expected goals, struggling to outscore their opponents. With Bedard out, the Blackhawks can’t rely on his offense and need to work out defensive kinks.
Offseason Additions Making an Impact
Bowen Byram made his preseason debut with the Blackhawks in their 4-3 overtime win over the Wild. The game started rough for the team’s new addition, with Bobby Brink scoring in the first 15 seconds on Spencer Knight.
While the first play wasn’t pretty, Chicago pulled off the overtime win with help from Byram, who scored three goals for a hat trick.
For a two-way defenseman, his debut showed strong potential for versatility on the ice. Nick Lardis spoke on his teammate after the game, saying “scoring a hat trick as a defenseman isn’t easy,” and that Byram will be a “special player” for the team.
Goaltenders Spencer Knight and Arvid Söderblom look promising for Chicago this season. In their win over the Blues, Knight made 29 saves on 31 shots, keeping the Blues at bay. Söderblom’s games didn’t end in wins, but his .972 save percentage against the Blues is impressive, and he stopped 35 shots.
On top of this, some of the younger players showed out and made a difference during the preseason. Lardis scored a goal and had an assist in the Blackhawks’ overtime win against the Wild, and Roman Kantserov scored against the Blues. Kantserov made his debut during preseason against the Wild.
Anton Frondell also looked much better in the team’s final preseason game, even scoring. Frondell was feeling better about his performance overall.
The Blackhawks With and Without Bedard
Without Connor Bedard, the Blackhawks are 8-17-2. There is no question that Bedard is someone his teammates look to at game time.
Last season, Bedard had 75 points across 69 games and has 203 career points in just three years.
With the shoulder injury from last season, Chicago has shown that no singular player can fill Bedard’s shoes. Tyler Bertuzzi and Frank Nazar were key contributors, with 58 and 41 points, respectively. They will need to continue that effort this season. Other players to watch include Oliver Moore, Roman Kantserov, and Artyom Levshunov. The young players the Hawks added will be essential at the start of this season.
Chicago will need to find ways around Bedard’s absence early in the season. He isn’t expected to return until sometime in November. Their first regular-season game is tonight against the Vegas Golden Knights at 9:30 pm CT.
Leave a comment