The Chicago Blackhawks placed star center Connor Bedard on injured reserve Monday due to the upper-body issue he sustained in the final seconds of a loss to the St. Louis Blues.
The move is retroactive to last Friday, when Bedard was hurt on a faceoff in the offensive zone with Chicago trailing 3-2. He held his right shoulder and grimaced in distress as he skated to the bench at the buzzer.
Bedard missed Chicago’s 4-0 home loss to the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. The move to IR rules him out of road games against the Toronto Maple Leafs on Tuesday and Montreal Canadiens on Thursday.
Blackhawks coach Jeff Blashill termed the injury a “freak accident” following the conclusion of the St. Louis game.
Bedard, 20, is Chicago’s runaway scoring leader with 19 goals and 44 points in 31 games. He is on pace to smash existing career highs of 23 goals and 67 points that he set in 82 appearances last season.
The Blackhawks drafted him No. 1 overall in 2023. He won the 2024 Calder Trophy and tops his draft class with 64 goals and 172 points in 181 career games.
If healthy, Bedard is a candidate to play for Canada in February at his first Winter Olympics.
Chicago summoned 22-year-old defenseman Ethan Del Mastro from Rockford of the American Hockey League on Monday. The team also recalled veteran goaltender Laurent Brossoit, 32, from his AHL conditioning stint.
