Connor Bedard wore the same green jersey, participated in the same non-contact drills and sported the same face shield.
For Bedard, the only major difference Monday from previous Chicago Blackhawks practices was time.
He’s a week away from being evaluated to make contact for the first time since undergoing surgery to repair a fractured jaw on Jan. 8, three days after Bedard’s collision with New Jersey Devil Brendan Smith knocked him out of the game.
Bedard has been expected to miss six to eight weeks, and his recovery has been on track.
Richardson said that to his knowledge, doctors skipped a check-up Monday because they felt it wasn’t needed.
“Maybe later in the week or early next week is probably when they’re targeting for hopefully the last one,” Richardson said after practice at Fifth Third Arena on Monday. “They just said it was kind of useless to take another image with radiation. Like, why bother? Everything was on pace and it looks to be on the same timeline that they thought.”
However, Richardson ruled out Bedard taking contact in practice for the rest of this week.
“So he’ll need a few practices, and once he gets released from that, then (he’ll) be ready to go,” the coach said.
"That was just hard for him to accept at the beginning, but he's been great lately. And I think he's calmed down and realized that he's got to go through this process."
–Luke Richardson on Connor Bedard showing more patience during his recovery from a broken jaw pic.twitter.com/jCP7WmsOKD
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) February 12, 2024
That would seem to rule out Bedard flying to Carolina on Feb. 19 for a game against the Hurricanes, which is a heavy, physical team.
The Hawks then host the Philadelphia Flyers (Feb. 21), Winnipeg Jets (Feb. 23) and Detroit Red Wings (Feb. 25), though given the timeline the Wings game seems to be the most realistic for Bedard to make a return.
“We’re hoping some time in that timeframe,” Richardson said. “So that would be exciting. Knowing him he’ll probably try and get back before (then), which would be great. But we’re just going to leave it as-is, in the doctors’ hands, till next Monday, to kind of go from there.”
Richardson, who once joked about paying Zamboni drivers to shoo Bedard off the practice ice, said he’s sensed Bedard showing more patience with his recovery — perhaps now that the end is in sight.
“I haven’t had to talk about that (with him),” Richardson said. “I think in the beginning, his first time probably going through this process, he just wanted to play. I think that was just hard for him to accept at the beginning, but he’s been great lately.
“I think he’s calmed down and realized that he’s got to go through this process.”
Nick Foligno added, “He’s got to be smart. He’s going to have a long career ahead of him.
“As badly as we all know he wants to play, there’s reasons doctors say the things they say, it’s for your own good, and they’re there to protect us from ourselves a lot of the times.”
Richardson told the rookie to expect a different level of play when he gets back, even from what he experienced before the injury.
“The teams are ramping up, the teams are getting into full swing in that middle part of the season,” he said. “So for a young guy that hasn’t even gone through a full NHL season, he hasn’t even realized that.”
In any event, Bedard will be wearing that helmet face shield once he does return.
Richardson wasn’t sure how long he’ll play with it: “I think until he feels comfortable and the doctors feel comfortable.”