Connor Bedard may be on the verge of returning to the Chicago Blackhawks lineup, and Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins is suddenly looking like the target date.
The Blackhawks captain has been out since undergoing shoulder surgery three months ago, but he was back on the ice with teammates in early October and took part in full-contact practices over the weekend. That has only fueled the sense that his season debut could be close, even if Bedard himself wasn’t eager to make it easy.
“I'll be as vague and tell you guys as little as possible,” Bedard said with a smirk.
He said he has a doctor’s appointment coming up, though he didn’t share any details about it. ESPN’s Emily Kaplan reported on X that Bedard was likely to play against Pittsburgh if he felt good after the morning skate, adding that he has been feeling good as he works his way back and that Chicago’s medical staff has been monitoring his recovery.
Bedard’s left shoulder was injured during offseason training in Vancouver on July 2, and he had surgery six days later. At the time, he was expected to need about four months to recover. The timeline has stretched into the season, but his recent ramp-up has put him closer to game action.
The wait, Bedard admitted, has grown tougher now that he feels like himself again.
“It's almost more frustrating near the end of [the recovery process] than the start of it. At the start of it, you're just like: 'I can't even move my arm, so there's no thing I can really do.'
But I feel normal, I feel like myself, shooting the puck, everything. You want to play,” he said, according to NHL analyst Charlie Roumeliotis.
Still, Chicago coach Jeff Blashill isn’t ready to say anything definitive until he gets more information from that doctor’s visit. He also said he does not yet know when the appointment will happen.
“I mean, I don’t want to say until I know more factual stuff from the (doctor’s) appointment,” Blashill said. “I don’t even know when (the appointment) is yet, so until I know for sure, there’s a little bit of fluidity there we have to deal with.”
This is not unfamiliar territory for Bedard. He previously missed time with a shoulder issue after hurting his right shoulder during a face-off against the St.
Louis Blues on December 10, 2025. That injury cost him 12 games before he returned against the Washington Capitals on January 9.
The Blackhawks have opened the season 1-5-0 without last season’s leading scorer. Bedard closed the 2025-26 campaign with career-best totals of 30 goals, 45 assists and 75 points, and he has led Chicago in scoring in each of his first three NHL seasons.
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