This Is Bad…

This Is Bad…

The Blackhawks are off for a few days now, not back in action until Tuesday the 16th in Toronto. And a lot has happened since the last video I made went up. Saturday night started off with great energy in the building. The tribute to the original Chicago stadium set the tone, and these 100year celebrations the organization has been rolling out all season have been a real classy touch. Then the puck dropped and things got ugly fast. Without their top star in the lineup, the Hawks looked completely out of sorts. Struggling to generate anything with real purpose. Nick Lardis at least gave fans something to latch on to. He didn’t look overwhelmed, showed some jump, and made a solid first impression. But if this game is any indication of what Blackhawks hockey might look like without Badard for any extended stretch, yeah, that’s a pretty alarming thought. So, boys, it’s been a minute since the last video, and I’ll get into why at the end. But to set the stage, the last time I posted was right after the first Hawks Kings game, a game they actually won. And almost immediately after, everything fell apart. What followed after that first win against LA was easily the ugliest stretch of hockey we’ve seen from this team all season. It was a brutal weekend where they were outscored 13-1. completely out of sync, disconnected in every zone, hard to watch. And then somehow they hit reset. They showed up against New York and responded with a win. For a moment, it felt like maybe the storm had passed. There was structure. There was urgency. They looked like a team that remembered who they were supposed to be. That optimism didn’t last long. A loss to St. Louis followed, capped by a nightmare scenario. The Blackhawks generational superstar Connor Bard goes down with an injury. So, let’s get into the moment everyone’s been talking about. With just 0.8 seconds left on the clock, a point in the game where there’s really nothing left to gain other than a harmless final play. Connor Badard got tangled up with Brad and Shen. Almost instantly, you could tell something wasn’t right. Bard went down, got up slowly, and headed straight to the bench, clearly in discomfort. So, watching this live, I thought it was a straightup cross check, but after replaying it, I’m starting to side with what a lot of others are seeing, too. It really looks like Bar was just trying to get a shot off the face off. You can see it in how he drops his right knee and drives his shoulder into the motion. Shen comes up from underneath to take the stick away. And the way Bard’s drive meets Shen’s pulling up seems to what actually causes the injury. At least that’s what it looks like in real time. If you’re Shen, you do have to ask why there was any need to go that hard in that moment. With less than a second left on the clock, nothing about the outcome was changing. At best, it’s an unnecessary risk in a situation that didn’t call for it. That said, I don’t see it as some blatant dirty cheap shot the way others do. It was reckless, but not malicious. Sportsnet’s Elliot Freriedman reported that Connor Bernard underwent an MRI on his injured right shoulder. Full results aren’t in yet, but one thing was made clear. Bard will not be traveling with the team on their three-game road trip through Canada this week. Head coach Jeff Blash confirmed that after the game, and from that moment on, the tone shifted from concern to real unease. Because if Bedard is out for any significant amount of time, and right now, it sure feels like that’s where it’s headed. Everything changes. In a Western Conference where the margins are razor thin, losing a player like Bard for an extended stretch can spiral quickly. And that’s what stings the most. This season felt like a season where he was truly taking another leap. He was scoring goals in every way imaginable, dictating games, and growing more dangerous by the night. That Rangers goal says it all. Fighting inside position, holding off the defender, Gaov, and snapping at top corner like it was effortless. Now you’re forced to ask uncomfortable questions. What does Chicago even look like without him? How does the lineup adjust? Who takes on that responsibility? I like the fact that Nick Lardis was called up right away, but let’s be honest, that move probably tells us more than we’d like to admit about how serious this injury might be. Bard has been the engine of this team all season. At the time he went down, he was tied for third in the NHL in scoring and dragging the Blackhawks offense forward night after night. Losing him is crushing for the team, for whatever direction this season was heading, and for Bedard himself, especially with things like team Canada potentially hanging in the balance. You want to believe this is all just panic. You want to think we’re reading too much into it, but the way Bard left the ice, the pain, the body language, it’s hard to brush off. [Music] Since the last time I uploaded, Chicago also went back to a more traditional six defenseman setup, something we haven’t seen much under Blill, who’s mostly leaned on the 11 forward 7D look. And with Sam Renzel heading down to Rockford, six is really the only option on the table for now. Let’s be honest, Sam Renzel needed this stint in the AHL. Down there, he’s going to get real minutes. 20 a night, tough matchups, actual responsibility. The same type of role Levino is thriving in right now. That’s where a young defenseman like Renzel can slow the game down, build good habits, and clean up the details that were starting to catch up to him at the NHL level. The tools are obvious with this player. His skating jumps off the screen and the upside is undeniable. But too often, Renzel gets caught puck watching, drifts away from his assignments, and suddenly the Hawks are giving up high danger looks. His passing and decision-making under pressure still needs refinement as well. Rockford is the perfect environment to iron all of that out. Let him play. Let him make mistakes. Let him dominate. He’s already got four assists in two games down there. That’s exactly what you want to see. Give him time to sharpen his game, build confidence, and when he comes back later this season, the goal is simple. A more composed, more mature defenseman who’s far more reliable in his own end. And that’s how you turn potential into a stud. So yeah, in the span of just one week since the last video, a lot has happened. Chicago went through what might have been their worst weekend of the season against the Kings and Ducks, then somehow sandwiched in one genuinely great performance against the Rangers, only for it to be followed by a nightmare scenario, Bard’s injury, and a pretty sobering preview of what the team will look like without him. And before we wrap it up here, I just want to apologize. It’s been tough to try and stay consistent on this channel. Every time I try to deliver a deep dive and use game clips, the videos get hit with copyright claims from the NHL or Sportsnet, which really limits the kind of content I want to make and slows everything down. It’s frustrating, but it is what it is. That said, I’m back and going forward, I’m going to try and lock in on gameby-game recaps, break things down as they happen, and ride this season out with you guys, no matter how messy it gets from here. As always, thank you guys so much for watching. Make sure to like the video, drop a comment on what you think Chicago will look like if Badard does miss a lot of time, and hit subscribe for more videos just like this.

The Blackhawks are off for a few days now, not back in action until Tuesday the 16th in Toronto and a lot has happened since the last video went up. #chicagoblackhawks #chicago #connorbedard #bedard #injury #blackhawks #chicago #hockey #nhl #nhlhockey
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