Leaning to his right and watching the puck fly to the left of and behind the goalie from his vantage point, Blackhawks winger Nick Lardis thought he might have scored.
A second later, he realized that wasn’t true. He had beaten Islanders backstop Ilya Sorokin’s blocker, but he had also missed the net on a wide-open shot from 34 feet out last Thursday.
Lardis generated two more dangerous scoring opportunities Saturday against the Hurricanes — a three-on-one rush with Ryan Greene and Patrick Kane and a back-door feed from Wyatt Kaiser — but couldn’t bury those, either.
The offense-starved Hawks would have benefited from Lardis converting one or two of the three chances. And for him to carve out a long, prolific NHL career, he will have to.
His job is sniper; he isn’t cerebral enough, scrappy enough or defensively stout enough to do anything else at this level.
On Tuesday, Lardis was sent down to Rockford. The Hawks needed to clear a roster spot for Connor Bedard, and with veteran depth center Dominic Toninato having temporarily secured a fourth-line role, Lardis was the odd man out.
Given he had averaged less than 11 minutes of ice time during the Hawks’ first six games, got dominated in those limited minutes — the Hawks had been outscored 7-1 and outshot 32-20 in them — and wouldn’t learn much from sitting out as a healthy scratch, that was probably for the best.
But the AHL assignment puts Lardis at something of a developmental crossroads.
Here’s the video of Lardis’ missed shot last week against the Islanders: pic.twitter.com/zhMyJm9H90
— Ben Pope’s Video Clips (@BenPopeCSTclips) October 13, 2026
He crushed the AHL last season, racking up 32 points (including 18 goals) in 35 games, and he’ll likely do so again this season. That should help rebuild his confidence, which seems to be a critical ingredient to success.
He talked about feeling confident during his flash of NHL productivity last spring, potting five goals in the Hawks’ final 13 games. He talked about feeling even more confident during his standout training camp in September.
That made him a popular breakout pick entering the regular season — with good reason. With the narrative having shifted substantially in just two weeks, it’s now time to ask some hard questions.
Will Lardis become simply the Hawks’ latest example — replacing Lukas Reichel and, before him, Dylan Sikura — of a small, skilled winger who proved too one-dimensional to succeed in the NHL?
Or will Lardis diversify his game over time, figure out how to consistently pick corners even on NHL goalies and carve out a unique niche in Chicago? He’s not built to be a bottom-six grinder, so it’s basically top six or bust.
Barely a year into his pro career, he certainly still has time to establish himself on the upward trajectory. He has a promising example to follow in Predators-turned-Devils winger Luke Evangelista, who not only profiles similarly but is also a good friend.
And he has the necessary self-awareness of his strengths and weaknesses, too. When I most recently talked with him Saturday, he wasn’t shy about critiquing himself.
“I’ve got to always be moving a little more,” Lardis said. “Sometimes I find I’m caught standing still in the [defensive] zone, and then we get the puck and I’m not ready to anticipate the play.
“It’s pretty simple to say, but when I’m moving and seeing a play evolve, that’s when my speed can kill on the ice. Just want to make sure I’m doing that — not just in the ‘D’-zone but in the offensive zone, too.”
He also mentioned he needed to defer less to teammates and to attack the interior of defenses more — such as by slashing across diagonally on the rush, as he did to create that look against the Islanders.
While attempting to earn another NHL opportunity to make those improvements, Lardis should add considerable intrigue to a Rockford team that’s otherwise slim on notable prospects.