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Blackhawks Reassign Laurent Brossoit

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Dec. 16: Brossoit cleared waivers and will be reassigned to Rockford, per Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet.

Dec. 15: Blackhawks goaltender Laurent Brossoit won’t be sticking on the roster after his conditioning loan to AHL Rockford ended today. He’ll be placed on waivers at 1:00 p.m. Central and will head back to Rockford if he clears tomorrow, head coach Jeff Blashill told reporters (including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times).

Brossoit was never expected to report to Chicago after returning to practice last month and eventually being sent to Rockford for his first playing action in more than a year. He’s been permitted to seek a trade to find a new NHL home, but with no takers so far, he’ll end up on the wire to extend his stay in Rockford.

In all likelihood, the 32-year-old will never play a game for the Blackhawks after signing a two-year, $6.6MM contract in free agency in 2024. There’s no longer a place for him on the roster with Spencer Knight and Arvid Söderblom now entrenched as Chicago’s two NHL options. Late-summer surgery on his meniscus spiraled into more knee surgeries that eventually cost him the entire 2024-25 campaign, and a hip procedure this past summer kept him on the injured list to begin this year.

When Brossoit appeared for Rockford on Dec. 5, it was his first playing action since a relief appearance for the Jets in the 2024 playoffs. The veteran netminder was coming off back-to-back seasons with an exceptional .927 SV% in a backup role before reaching the open market and signing with Chicago.

While his knee and hip issues ended up taking out a solid chunk of his prime, his stint with Rockford showed he’s still a pro-level netminder and could easily find a home elsewhere if Chicago is willing to retain some of his $3.3MM cap hit. He logged a .900 SV% in three starts for the IceHogs – even scoring a goalie goal – and recorded a 2-1-0 record with a 3.39 GAA.

Teams can now have Brossoit for free over the next 24 hours, but they’ll need to take on his full cap hit if they don’t want to pay an acquisition cost. While he counts $3.3MM against the cap, his salary is only $2.3MM this season after Chicago paid out a $1MM signing bonus at the beginning of the season. That could be attractive to cash-conscious teams with cap space to burn.

Blackhawks Place Connor Bedard On Injured Reserve

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Dec. 16th: According to an update from ESPN’s Kevin Weekes, Bedard has reportedly suffered a separated shoulder. Given that the team will re-evaluate Bedard in early January, this suggests that it’s no more than a Grade 2 separation, which typically has a recovery timeline of four to eight weeks. If it’s only a Grade 1 separation, Bedard may only miss a few weeks. The lack of motivation for surgery indicates that Bedard didn’t suffer a Grade 3 separation or beyond, which carries a recovery timeline of multiple months.

Dec. 15th: According to a team announcement, the Chicago Blackhawks have placed star center Connor Bedard on the injured reserve, retroactive to Dec. 12. In a corresponding roster move, the Blackhawks have recalled defenseman Ethan Del Mastro and have returned goaltender Laurent Brossoit from his conditioning stint.

Bedard will be out through the holiday break and will be re-evaluated in early January, head coach Jeff Blashill told reporters (including Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times). They’re not currently considering surgery for his suspected shoulder ailment.

His injury stems from the Blackhawks’ recent game against the St. Louis Blues. In the final moments of the contest, Bedard got tied up with Blues center Brayden Schenn during a faceoff and went down awkwardly. He was seen skating to the bench clutching his right shoulder, and no further updates have been given regarding the severity of his injury.

Losing Bedard for any amount of time is understandably a gut punch to a relatively competitive Chicago team. In the midst of a true breakout before the injury, Bedard had scored 19 goals and 44 points in 31 games, averaging 21:03 of ice time per contest. Nearly every facet of his game had taken meaningful steps forward, from his on-ice save percentage at even strength, CorsiFor% at even strength, to his faceoff percentage.

The Blackhawks already lost their first game without Bedard the following night at the hands of the Detroit Red Wings, and will play the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens before he’s eligible to return. It wouldn’t be surprising to see a noticeable decrease in offensive output over those two games, as the team’s next leading scorer is Tyler Bertuzzi with 16 goals and 26 points in 29 games. Of Bertuzzi’s 16 goals, Bedard has assisted on 11 of them.

Del Mastro, 22, has already suited up in one game for the Blackhawks this season, earning a -1 rating in 17:35 of action. With that, he’s spent the rest of his time with the AHL’s Rockford IceHogs, scoring one goal and 11 points in 27 games with a +6 rating.

Although he will serve as the team’s seventh defenseman throughout their upcoming road trip, that doesn’t necessarily mean that Del Mastro won’t be in the lineup against the Maple Leafs and Canadiens. Throughout much of the 2025-26 campaign, head coach Jeff Blashill has opted to dress seven defensemen instead of the typical six, which may continue now that Chicago is down to 13 forwards on the active roster.

Meanwhile, Brossoit will have the opportunity to play in his first NHL contest since the 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs. He’s been recovering from both meniscus and hip surgeries over the last two years with the Blackhawks and is finally healthy enough to debut with the club. His numbers were fairly encouraging over his conditioning loan, managing a 2-1-0 record in three games with a .900 SV%.

AHL Rockford Acquires Rem Pitlick

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More information rolls in regarding the Vancouver Canucks’ trade negotiations involving defenseman Quinn Hughes. We now know that several teams were scared of parting with significant value due to the perception that Hughes is far from a guarantee to sign a long-term extension.

According to The Athletic’s Michael Russo, Hughes is keeping an “open mind” when it comes to re-upping with Minnesota on July 1st, 2026. Russo noted that Hughes believes the Wild have “an amazing core.” He also shared that Hughes is happy with how close the team is to Michigan, and for being the organization that actually stepped up to get him, regardless of his perceived hesitancy to sign an extension.

Now, unlike other teams, the Wild have more than six months to convince Hughes to sign immediately when eligible, and even longer if both sides are comfortable with him entering the 2026-27 season as a pending unrestricted free agent. They got off to a good start last night, beating the Boston Bruins by four goals, with Hughes scoring his first goal with the team in the third period.

Additional morning notes:

  • Likely because they’ve added forward Samuel Poulin to their AHL roster, the Bakersfield Condors connected with the Rockford IceHogs on an AHL trade yesterday. According to an announcement from Rockford, the Condors have traded forward Rem Pitlick to the IceHogs for defenseman Tyson Feist. Rem, cousin of Tyler Pitlick, is a veteran of 132 NHL contests, scoring 21 goals and 54 points. Meanwhile, Feist has only played in the ECHL this season, scoring one goal and seven points in 14 games for the Indy Fuel.
  • Back in Minnesota, there were a few negatives that came from last night’s contest. Both defenseman David Jiříček and forward Marcus Johansson left yesterday’s game with lower-body injuries. According to Joe Smith of The Athletic, the Wild didn’t offer any updates for either player during the post-game media availability. Minnesota doesn’t play again until tomorrow, so more information should be provided before then.

Connor Bedard Not Expected To Travel With Blackhawks

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It’s been a tough weekend for the Chicago Blackhawks, as on Friday, franchise center Connor Bedard suffered an injury in the closing moments of the team’s loss, and then on Saturday the team, without Bedard, was shut out 4-0 by the Detroit Red Wings. The most recent reporting regarding Bedard’s injury indicates that things are unlikely to get easier for the Blackhawks in the immediate future.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on yesterday’s “Saturday Headlines” segment that the Blackhawks “are still collecting information” regarding Bedard’s injury and what a recovery timeline might look like. Friedman said he believes Bedard had an MRI on Saturday and that the Blackhawks are “still determining what the plan’s going to be” regarding his recovery.

The Blackhawks are set to travel on a three-game road trip this week, and per Friedman, Bedard is “not expected to travel” for at least the beginning of the road trip as the team continues to sort out his injury.

It goes without saying that any extended Bedard absence would deal a potentially fatal blow to the Blackhawks’ ability to stay afloat in the Western Conference playoff race. The Blackhawks, under new head coach Jeff Blashill, have surprised some this season, amassing a better-than-expected 13-13-6 record, which puts them three points behind the San Jose Sharks for the final Wild Card spot with a game in hand.

That better-than-expected start to 2025-26 has occurred in large part thanks to Bedard’s heroics. While he didn’t quite “pop” in his sophomore season the way some might have expected, Bedard has taken a major leap in 2025-26. He has 19 goals and 44 points in just 31 games, which is a 50-goal, 115-point full-season pace.

The Blackhawks have used Bedard heavily this season, and he’s just two seconds per game behind defenseman Alex Vlasic for the team lead in time-on-ice per game, something that in most cases belongs to a defenseman.

Put simply, in 2025-26, Bedard has been exactly the kind of franchise-altering talent he was billed to be by scouts and the media ahead of the 2023 draft. Losing Bedard for any period of time would put a significant amount of additional stress on the Blackhawks’ depth chart down the middle. 2022 first-rounder Frank Nazar has nearly matched his 2024-25 scoring total with 20 points in 30 games (he had 26 points in 53 games last year) but to expect him to fill Bedard’s shoes would be a mistake.

The Blackhawks rank No. 23 in the NHL averaging 2.84 goals per game, and that’s even with Bedard scoring at a top-five rate in the NHL. Without Bedard, the sources of offense dry up rapidly. Beyond Nazar, only veterans Tyler Bertuzzi and Andre Burakovsky have reached 20 points this season. The Blackhawks couldn’t find the back of the net without Bedard Saturday against Detroit, and they could continue to struggle to score with Bedard out.

Bedard Won't Play Tonight, Vanacker Added To Canada's WJC Camp

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Blackhawks center Connor Bedard was injured in a last-second faceoff in last night’s game against St. Louis.  Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times notes that the 20-year-old has already been ruled out for today’s game against Detroit with there not yet being enough information to make any determinations beyond that.  More information is expected on Monday before the team embarks on a three-game road trip.  Bedard, the number one pick in 2023, is in the middle of a breakout season as he has 19 goals and 25 assists in just 31 games, a level of play that has him as a speculative candidate to play for Canada at the upcoming Olympics, assuming that this injury isn’t a long-term one.

  • Still with Chicago, Hockey Canada announced (Twitter link) that Blackhawks prospect Marek Vanacker has been added to its training camp roster for the upcoming World Juniors. The 19-year-old was the 27th pick in the 2024 draft and is in the middle of a dominant season with OHL Brantford.  Through 26 games with the Bulldogs, Vanacker has 26 goals and 15 assists.  Considering the fact he wasn’t on the original invite list, he has some work to do to try to secure a spot on the final roster.

Blackhawks Recall Nick Lardis

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It has been a very promising first rookie season for Blackhawks prospect Nick Lardis.  A strong showing with AHL Rockford has now been rewarded as the team announced that they’ve recalled the winger from the IceHogs.  With the move, their roster is now at the maximum of 23 players.

It’s the first recall of his young career.  The 20-year-old was a third-round pick by Chicago back in 2023 and has quickly surpassed that draft standing.  Lardis had a dominant showing last season in his final year of major junior, collecting a league-high 71 goals and 46 assists in 65 regular season games with OHL Brantford before averaging more than two points per game in the playoffs.

While Lardis hasn’t been able to produce at quite the same rate with Rockford, he has still been quite productive.  Entering play today, he sits sixth in AHL scoring and tops among rookies with 13 goals and 13 assists in 24 outings.  In a league where only a handful of veterans typically surpass the point-per-game mark, having a first-year pro do so like Lardis is particularly impressive.

Considering how impactful he has been in the minors, it will be interesting to see how Chicago chooses to deploy Lardis.  It wouldn’t make sense to pull him up to simply be an extra forward so it stands to reason that he should get his first taste of NHL action soon, perhaps as soon as tonight against Detroit.

Blackhawks Recall Dominic Toninato

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The Blackhawks announced they’ve elevated center Dominic Toninato from AHL Rockford. The move gives Chicago another option at forward – and signals a return to a traditional 12-forward, six-defenseman alignment – ahead of tomorrow’s game against the Rangers. No corresponding transaction is necessary after the Hawks sent Sam Rinzel and Landon Slaggert down to Rockford yesterday.

Over the summer, the 31-year-old journeyman landed with Chicago in free agency on a two-year, two-way contract for situations like this. Serving as a dependable but clearly replacement-level call-up option who’s not a huge risk to get claimed on waivers, he entered the year with 189 games of NHL experience before passing through the wire and heading to Rockford.

He’s seen NHL action in each of the last eight seasons, including a career-high 77 appearances as a fourth-line regular with the Jets in 2021-22. That was his second of five years in the Winnipeg organization, which he finally departed a few months ago to sign with the Hawks. He’s only made 25 combined appearances across three years since then, though. He’s scored 13 goals and 22 assists for 35 points for his career, posting a +12 rating while averaging 0.19 points per game.

The adjustment to a new environment in Rockford has gone off without a hitch for the 6’2″ pivot. He’s third on the team in scoring with a 5-12–17 line in 24 games. That’s better than his career average rate in the minors and a nice rebound campaign after he posted a more conservative 36 points in 60 games with Manitoba last season while serving as captain.

Toninato will get a prorated bump from $450K to $850K as a result of his contract’s two-way structure. He’ll likely be on hand as an extra forward for the Hawks as they need it – Sam Lafferty was already available as the extra forward while his opportunities were limited due to Chicago only dressing 11 forwards for much of the year. He’ll likely get the fourth-line insert, but if Chicago wants a player who’s a more natural fit at center, Toninato could get the call.

Blackhawks Reassign Sam Rinzel, Landon Slaggert

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The Blackhawks have reassigned defenseman Sam Rinzel and winger Landon Slaggert to AHL Rockford, per Charlie Roumeliotis of WGN Radio 720. Both players are still waiver-exempt.

Slaggert’s demotion was expected. He’s been sent down once already this season and has been a healthy scratch in eight of Chicago’s last 10 games. Rinzel’s, however, comes as a surprise.

A first-round pick straight out of the Minnesota high school ranks in 2022, Rinzel was viewed as one of the higher-ceiling offensive defenders in the class but would need plenty of developmental runway to improve his overall game. The 6’4″ righty seemed to put most of the pieces together during the last two years with the University of Minnesota. He racked up a 12-48–60 scoring line in 79 games with a +43 rating. Not only was he a Big Ten First Team All-Star last year, but he was also named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Year.

Rinzel’s performance down the stretch last season for the Blackhawks after his collegiate campaign ended only added more fuel to his stock. Chicago deployed him in a top-pairing role with Alex Vlasic for their final nine games, and the results were fantastic. Rinzel rattled off five assists and a +1 rating while averaging 23:22 of ice time per game, getting an audition on the Hawks’ top power-play unit after Seth Jones was traded weeks earlier. He and Vlasic also controlled 50% of expected goals at 5-on-5, the only Blackhawks defense pair to break even with over 100 minutes of ice time last year, per MoneyPuck.

This season, however, there have been significant growing pains. Rinzel started back in that top-pairing job with Vlasic and skated over 25 minutes twice in the Hawks’ first three games. Since then, he’s only broken the 20-minute plateau three times and not since Oct. 26. He’s remained in the lineup all this time as Chicago has dressed seven defensemen for the majority of the campaign, but he was healthy scratched once on Nov. 15 against the Maple Leafs. Since returning to the lineup, he’s managed five assists in 11 games – all at even strength – but is only averaging 14:36 of ice time per game.

The reduced usage has come as a result of some warts popping up in Rinzel’s defensive game. Rinzel’s offensive zone start percentage at 5-on-5 is 55.4, ninth on the team (min. 50 minutes). Despite that, the Blackhawks are allowing more shots per 60 minutes with Rinzel on the ice (34.2) than any other player on the roster. The same goes for shot attempts (68.3), and his 33.4 scoring chances against per 60 are the worst among defensemen.

He’ll now get some time to clean up his game in Rockford. Given Chicago’s frequent juggling of defense pairs this season, a strong run of play means he could find himself back on the roster in fairly short order – particularly if they start listening to calls on pending unrestricted free agents Matt Grzelcyk and Connor Murphy closer to the trade deadline.

It’s too early to read into how Rinzel’s demotion will affect head coach Jeff Blashill’s propensity to ice 11 forwards and seven defenders this season. Chicago didn’t fill its newly open roster spots in corresponding moves today because they’re off until Wednesday, following a dreadful weekend in Southern California, losing back-to-back games against the Kings and Ducks by a combined score of 13-1. Those losses brought their record in their last 10 games down to 2-6-2, although their hot start means they’re still one game above .500 and one point back of the Mammoth for the second wild card spot in the West as they approach the 30-game mark.

As for Slaggert, he’s been most often used as an extra forward on the NHL roster this season, a consequence of fewer jobs being available to the forward group than normal. The 23-year-old has entered the lineup on 10 occasions with one goal on five shots and an even rating. He’s averaged just 9:04 of ice time per game after seeing over 12 minutes in 33 appearances last season.

Image courtesy of Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images.

Craig Smith Announces Retirement

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As expected, forward Craig Smith has hung up his skates after 14 years in the NHL. The Magnuson Hockey Agency, which represented Smith, announced the retirement.

Smith’s professional career began back in 2009, when he was selected with the 98th overall pick by the Nashville Predators. He spent two years following the draft playing for the NCAA’s University of Wisconsin, scoring 27 goals and 76 points in 82 games while being named the program’s captain in his second season.

Impressively, after a standout performance for Team USA at the 2011 IIHF World Championships, Smith jumped right to the NHL in the 2011-12 season with the Predators. He finished 12th in Calder Trophy voting that year, scoring 14 goals and 36 points in 72 games — good for eighth in scoring on the team.

Due to some injury troubles, Smith skated in four games for the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals, which would serve as the only AHL playing time Smith had throughout his career. Over the next eight years, Smith scored 148 goals and 294 points in 589 games with Nashville, averaging 14:57 of ice time in a middle-six role. He had a far lesser track record of success in the postseason, tallying seven goals and 16 points in 52 games from 2012 to 2020.

After his five-year, $21.25MM extension with Nashville concluded after the 2019-20 season, Smith reached free agency for the first time at 33 years old. Due to the pause caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, Smith had to wait until mid-October to sign his next contract, which became a three-year, $9.3MM deal with the Boston Bruins.

He enjoyed a pair of relatively productive seasons with the Bruins before transitioning to a bottom-six role in his final season. In the last year of his deal, Smith was traded to the Washington Capitals in the trade that sent Dmitry Orlov and Garnet Hathaway to New England.

The Madison, WI native would only sign two more NHL contracts after that trade — one with the Dallas Stars, and another with the Chicago Blackhawks before ultimately ending his career with the Detroit Red Wings. Smith finished his career with 220 goals and 452 points in 987 games, becoming the fifth-highest scoring Wisconsin-born player behind Joe Pavelski, Phil Kessel, Gary Suter, and Ryan Suter.

We at PHR congratulate Smith on a solid career and wish him the best in his next chapter.

Photo courtesy of Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports. 

Blackhawks Activate, Reassign Laurent Brossoit

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Laurent Brossoit is finally getting back into game action. The Blackhawks announced they’ve activated the veteran netminder from the injured non-roster list and assigned him to AHL Rockford for a conditioning stint, bypassing waivers for the time being. Brossoit can play in Rockford for up to two weeks until Chicago must keep him on their active roster or place him on waivers for a permanent AHL assignment. Since the Hawks have an open roster spot, they don’t need to make a corresponding transaction.

Rockford’s next game is on Friday. If he plays, that would mark 583 days since his last appearance, when he entered in relief of Connor Hellebuyck for the Jets in Game 4 of their first-round loss to the Avalanche on April 28, 2024. Brossoit, an unrestricted free agent the following summer, signed a two-year, $6.6MM contract with the Blackhawks but needed surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee in August.

That kicked off a slate of three surgeries that have conspired to keep the 32-year-old out of action ever since signing the largest deal of his career. Brossoit was initially expected to only miss the first few weeks of the 2024-25 campaign, but was downgraded to out indefinitely in November and underwent a second cleanup procedure on his knee a few weeks later. That was expected to get him back in action in mid-January, but his recovery again didn’t go as planned, and he was shut down for the season in March. At the beginning of this year’s training camp, general manager Kyle Davidson said Brossoit had another offseason surgery – this time on his hip – and would remain out indefinitely.

That had some wondering, rightfully so, if 2025-26 would be another entirely lost season for Brossoit, potentially even marking the end of his career. That talk was quieted a couple of weeks ago when Brossoit was spotted on the ice at Blackhawks practice for the first time. With several skates under his belt and no further setbacks, he’ll get his feet wet in Rockford.

The Blackhawks will undoubtedly take advantage of the full two weeks afforded to them to keep Brossoit on his conditioning stint. With Spencer Knight and Arvid Söderblom now firmly entrenched as the team’s NHL goaltending duo, it’s clear they don’t plan on keeping him on the active roster once it’s over. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported over the weekend that the Hawks have given Brossoit permission to seek a trade. If they can’t land a deal by Dec. 16, he’ll likely end up on waivers and will stay in Rockford if he clears.

There should be legitimate intrigue in Brossoit, particularly if the Blackhawks retain a portion of his $3.3MM cap hit. The career backup had put up spectacular numbers in two straight seasons, albeit in small samples, before reaching the open market. The hope was that Brossoit could establish himself in Chicago as a legitimate tandem option who could sniff 30-35 starts. That obviously didn’t go to plan, but he still logged a 22-5-5 record, .927 SV%, 2.05 GAA, and three shutouts in 34 appearances for the Golden Knights and Jets across the 2022-23 and 2023-24 campaigns, good for 19.0 goals saved above expected (per MoneyPuck).

If Brossoit doesn’t get traded or claimed on waivers and ends up remaining a Blackhawk, Chicago will be able to knock $1.15MM off his cap hit by burying him in the minors. That will reduce his impact to $2.15MM for the rest of the season until he comes off their books next summer. For a Blackhawks team that’s already accumulated over $20.6MM in cap space this season, though, that’s not much of a concern.

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