As Connor Bedard careened headfirst Thursday during the second period of the Blackhawks‘ win over the Jets, he clearly wasn’t thinking one iota about his surgically repaired left shoulder making glancing contact with the boards.
After all, the man who loves scoring goals had just missed a wide-open net on a bizarre play. That was occupying his brain. Besides, he knew he had nothing to worry about regarding his shoulder.
For onlookers, though, the fact Bedard didn’t even grimace during the crash — and then got up and resumed protecting the puck with his body — provided reassurance that his shoulder is 100% healed and healthy.
Given how dramatically different the Hawks have looked with him versus without him so far this season, his availability for the remaining 76 games will obviously be crucial.
“He’s the guy,” Teuvo Teravainen said Friday. “You can see his confidence and his swag affecting us, too.”
Although Bedard’s line with Patrick Kane and Roman Kantserov wasn’t as dangerous overall Thursday as it was Tuesday (in his season debut), Bedard still easily could’ve had a hat trick.
He sniped his first goal of the season on a power play, missed from a tight angle on the aforementioned play and hit the post on a later power play. Kane, who found Bedard in the high slot for the early goal, was left shaking his head in amazement at his new captain’s shooting ability.
“I’ve been in that situation so many times where I’m the one getting the puck and creating,” Kane said. “I was just like, ‘Let’s just get it to him.’ And he was creating.
“That release…you can’t teach those things, right? To pull it in, get it by the ‘D’ and hit the corner, it’s just a special player doing special things.”
GOAL: Connor Bedard snipes his 1st goal of the season on the power play. pic.twitter.com/CRzMsTS4oS
— BHF (@BlackhawksFocus) October 16, 2026
Across the two games — both Hawks victories — Bedard has three points and six shots on goal on 13 attempts.
He has also won 14 of 27 faceoffs, a tiny sample that’s nonetheless encouraging since he wasn’t even cleared to take faceoffs when he returned from his right shoulder injury last season.
“I feel like I’m winning three [faceoffs] in a row and losing three in a row,” Bedard said. “I’d like to have a little more consistency with it, but it’s felt good. That’s something that, each year of my career, has improved.”
Indeed, he leveled up from around 38% in his first two seasons to 47.1% at the dot last season.
It’s worth noting the Jets outshot the Hawks 10-5 during Bedard’s five-on-five shifts Thursday, so he isn’t yet dominating at even strength to the same degree he is on the power play.
It’s also worth noting coach Jeff Blashill seems to be managing his workload somewhat. He received 19:05 of ice time Thursday — a number he exceeded in 54 of his 69 appearances last season — and Frank Nazar took the first shift of overtime over him.
Examining Bedard’s shifts more closely, though, it’s difficult to identify any recurring mistakes — even though some would be forgivable considering his rust — and it’s easy to see how hard he’s working to make a difference, both offensively and defensively.
The improvements he made in summer 2025 to his skating speed and agility seem to have held up. For the first six weeks after surgery this summer, he could only do lower-body workouts, so he got his legs “juiced,” to use his word.
That leg work is evident in the way he’s hustling back to interrupt opponents’ transition attacks. He might need to be more attentive to being a responsible “F3” in forechecking situations — he drifted too low on a few occasions — but that’s true of the entire team.
After the Hawks host the Stars on Saturday, they get a rare five-day break containing three practices. That should help Bedard get further settled into a playing rhythm.