Connor Bedard’s season will begin on the sideline, and the Blackhawks still don’t have a firm timetable for when their new captain will be back in the mix.
General manager Kyle Davidson told Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times that there’s no real update yet on Bedard, who has been out since injuring his left shoulder in early July during a freak accident on an off-season skate. Davidson said the team will “probably” have “new information” sometime in October, while head coach Jeff Blashill said last week that Bedard was not close to returning to practice.
That means Chicago will open tonight against the Golden Knights without the player who has led the team in scoring in each of the past three seasons. The club is expected to spend up to the cap and has playoff expectations, but it now has to manage the start of the season without its 1C. If Bedard is unable to return until sometime in mid-November, the Blackhawks will need to stay afloat through their first 20 games.
Bedard’s offseason has already packed in plenty. After posting two assists in the season finale against the Sharks last April, he suffered the shoulder injury in early July.
By mid-July, he had signed a five-year extension worth $15MM per season. Two weeks ago, he was named the 37th captain in team history.
And over the summer, Patrick Kane returned to Chicago to join the superstar, who just turned 21.
Colorado will also be short-handed when it opens its season tomorrow at Los Angeles. Corey Masisak of the Denver Post reports that Logan O’Connor and Zachary L’Heureux will both miss the game. Jared Bednar said the Avalanche will dress 11 forwards and seven defensemen, with Noah Juulsen serving as the extra defenseman.
L’Heureux, who was acquired from Nashville for Jack Drury in June, is dealing with a lower-body injury. The 23-year-old former first-round pick from 2021 has 20 points in 87 NHL games, but he also flashed real offense in the AHL last year with 28 points in 30 games for the Springfield Thunderbirds. Colorado sees untapped potential there, especially in a system that could help him unlock more of it.
O’Connor is a much more familiar absence for Avalanche fans. He’s been a fixture in the bottom six and an elite penalty killer over the past several seasons, though last year he was limited to 13 regular-season games after hip surgery. Bednar said his current lower-body injury appears to be day-to-day and not related.
In San Jose, Adam Gaudette is trending in the right direction. Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News noted that the Sharks forward skated today as he continues recovering from an upper-body injury suffered two weeks ago.
The timing has been rough for the 29-year-old. Gaudette had fallen out of the NHL picture four years ago before resurrecting his career with 44 goals for the Springfield Thunderbirds in 2023-24.
He carried that momentum into Ottawa, where he scored 19 goals and then earned a two-year deal from San Jose worth $2MM per season. Now he’s part of a roster stocked with young forwards and several other middle-six options, with Kiefer Sherwood also occupying a spot on the fourth line as part of the team’s push toward contention.
Gaudette, who can take faceoffs regularly, is hoping to come off injured reserve and get back into the lineup as soon as Saturday against Los Angeles.
In Other News...
Sharks Just Tied Their Blue Line Future To One Bold Bet
The Sharks made a notable swing on the back end, landing a blue-line prospect with real long-term intrigue in Keaton Verhoeff. Drafted ninth overall in 2026, Verhoeff already carries the kind of profile teams covet on defense: a big frame, a right-handed shot and a resume that includes a season at the University of North Dakota, along with a turn for Canada at the World Junior Championships.
What makes the move especially interesting for San Jose is how clearly it signals a willingness to invest in upside on defense even if the development curve is still ahead. Verhoeffs size and physical style give him a sturdy foundation, but like most young defensemen, the next step will be refining the details that decide whether his game translates from promising college talent to dependable pro presence. [Read more 🡒]
Sharks Just Set Up A Big Development Test For Mattias Havelid
Mattias Havelids next step is back where the Sharks can keep a closer eye on his progress. San Jose has reassigned the 22-year-old defenseman to the Barracuda after his recovery from an upper-body injury kept him out of the early stages of camp and delayed his chance to get on the ice with the organization in a meaningful way.
The AHL assignment gives Havelid a chance to make up ground quickly, and special teams figures to be the clearest test. The Barracuda have a vacancy on their top power-play unit, and Havelid is in position to fight for it as he continues to build toward a bigger role in the Sharks pipeline. [Read more 🡒]
Downtown San Jose Is Treating This Sharks Opener Like A Reset
The buzz around the Sharks upcoming season is starting well before the puck drops, and downtown San Jose is leaning into it. The clubs Turn It All Teal campaign is helping set the tone, with fan events building around the home opener and turning the area around SAP Center into part of the experience. For a team and a city that have spent years trying to reenergize the hockey conversation, the buildup feels less like a routine opener and more like a reset.
San Jose President Jonathan Becher has also pointed to something the market can uniquely claim: it is the only city that hosts NHL, AHL and Professional Womens Hockey League teams. That gives this stretch of the calendar extra weight locally, especially with Santa Clara also staging civic events like the State of the City address, the Parade of Champions and a public appearance by author Robert Dugoni. For Sharks fans, the hope is that all the pageantry is not just noise around opening night, but the start of a season that gives the city something to rally around. [Read more 🡒]