Bedard Makes (More) History, Lardis Times Two, College Production, and Other Blackhawks Bullets

The Conner Bedard Experience went to another level on Sunday afternoon as the Blackhawks’ young phenom scored two ridiculous goals. As I watched a replay of the game last night and more clips and angles of the two plays that ended with the puck in the back of the net, I found myself thinking about comps. Who made plays like those that I can remember? The first goal — a strip of a defender and then filthy top-shelf wrister — had a Pavel Datsyuk feel to it. The second one left me at a loss for a player — or players — who came to mind whose puckwork in traffic (under the defender’s stick and then shooting across the crease while reaching over the same defender’s stick) who could have done that. Thoughts?

  • The ongoing “Bedard is the youngest/fastest/first since _____” stats continue to pour in after his performance on Sunday.
  • The Blackhawks will practice on Monday. We’ll see if there are any updates on the statuses of Taylor Hall and/or Andreas Athanasiou, who didn’t play on Sunday.
  • Let’s talk about some other Blackhawks and future Blackhawks for a bit, shall we? Because, after all, there are 22 other guys on the NHL roster right now and a whole lot more in the pipeline.
  • In my postgame thoughts yesterday and on Twitter (X, if you prefer), I noted that Seth Jones and Alex Vlasic had a rough first period. They were on the ice at even strength for 10 shots against and only two shot attempts for the Blackhawks. When the dust settled at the end of the game, their numbers had improved greatly. Jones was on the ice for 11 Blackhawks’ shot attempts to 9 for the Panthers in the second and third periods combined, and he took a stronger role in not only getting the puck out of the defensive zone but leading the offensive attack. The third period from Jones was, in my humble opinion, the best we’ve seen from him yet this season. I would love to see him play with that aggressiveness all the time, but I also acknowledge that’s a big ask when he’s averaging almost 26 minutes per night. I do believe the entire defense is better when Jones and Vlasic are together and Connor Murphy is with Kevin Korchinski.
  • While we’re on the subject of even strength shots, you know which line was the Blackhawks’ best on Sunday? The second line of Taylor Raddysh, Jason Dickinson and Lukas Reichel was really good in that regard. Raddysh (8 shots for, 2 against) was the best ratio on the roster according to , followed by Dickinson (6 shots for, 2 against) and Reichel (8 shots for, 4 against).
  • One of the young prospects who’s heating up right now is Nick Lardis. He extended his personal point streak to 11 games and matched Bedard’s two-goal performance for the Brantford Bulldogs in the OHL. Lardis, the 67th overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, now has 12 goals in 17 games to start his post-draft season. Those 12 goals are tied for seventh in the OHL.
  • You know who’s right behind Lardis on the leaderboard in the OHL? Gavin Hayes has scored 11 times in 16 games, including one this weekend. Martin Misiak has nine markers in 18 contests. Love to see the offense coming in bunches!
  • Yeah, Jim Harbaugh wasn’t able to coach the football team on Saturday. But when they arrived back in Ann Arbor after beating Penn State, they went straight to the hockey game — and Harbaugh met them there to watch Frank Nazar and Co. do work. Nazar had a terrific weekend and made it on our College Three Stars this morning. Who else had a good weekend? Head over and see how the Hawks’ top college prospects performed.
  • The Avs announced on Sunday that goaltender Pavel Francouz is done for the year. Will that put them in the market for a replacement? Francouz, 33, is slated to be a UFA this coming summer and right now they’re riding with waiver claim Ivan Prosvetov as their back-up to Alexandar Georgiev. Something to keep an eye on as teams like Carolina and Edmonton sort through their own goaltending headaches early in the season.
  • Speaking of Carolina, reports on Sunday are that they’re working on sending more of their prospects back to the Chicago Wolves. As a reminder, the Wolves opted to go solo this year; they aren’t formally affiliated with any NHL franchise. Carolina does not have an AHL affiliate this year, which has been a migraine for their front office sending prospects to either the ECHL or, in some cases, letting them return to Europe. The Wolves can, in theory, accept players on loan from any NHL franchise right now.
  • Finally, speaking of really good prospect pools… how bout them Cubbies?!?
  • written by

    Tab Bamford has been writing about the Chicago Blackhawks for almost two decades. He joined Bleacher Nation as the lead Blackhawks writer in May 2022. Tab is a member of the and is the author of three books about the Blackhawks: (Triumph Books),"100 Things 🤪Blackhawks Fans Should Know &;𒁏 Do Before They Die" (Triumph Books) and "Chicago Blackhawks: An Illustrated Timeline" (Reedy Preꦓss, 2021). Find him on Twitter/X/Instagram/Threads at @T𝔉he1Tab

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