To fill Bedard’s spot on the roster, Chicago recalled Nick Lardis from the Rockford IceHogs. Lardis has 26 points in 24 games in the AHL. Ironically, Lardis was recalled on the same day that Frank Nazar was recalled the year prior.

Sadly, Lardis was not enough to get Hawks on the scoresheet as they were shut out 4-0 by John Gibson.

First period

Early in the game, the Wings got on the board with a goal from Alex DeBrincat. It was the former Hawk’s 17th goal of the season.

Shortly after, Patrick Kane scored the 498th goal of his career. The former Hawk is now two goals away from 500 and seven goals behind Joe Mullen on the all-time American-born goals list. He only trails Mike Modano by 10 points for the most points by an American-born player.

The first period ended up 2-0 in favor of the Wings.

Second period

The Wings added another goal from Emmitt Finnie to take a 3-0 lead.

Third period

DeBrincat capped off the scoring with an empty-net goal. The Hawks fell to the Red Wings 4-0.

Analysis

The Blackhawks are now living in a Bedard-less world. As we saw in the 2023-24 season, this is going to be painful. Without Bedard, that team went 3-10-1. That was with Bedard playing at a lesser level. While there has been no timeline for this return, the Blackhawks have ruled him out for the next three games. Those three games will be on the road through Eastern Canada. Without Bedard, players will have to step up their offensive games.

Lardis

Lardis made his NHL debut against the Wings. He was given 15:32 of ice time for the game. Of his 15 minutes, he played 4:52 on the power play. For his night, he recorded two shots on net and five hits. Sadly the outcome was not what he wanted in a solid debut.

Nazar

While Nick Lardis did not look out of place in his NHL debut, the young rookie cannot be expected to make up for Bedard. The other forwards who have been on cold streaks have to start scoring. The biggest culprit is Nazar. Nazar’s last goal was on October 28.The young forward must regain his scoring touch that helped him record five goals in the season’s first 10 games.

In addition to Nazar, several other forwards are struggling on offense. Both Andre Burakovsky and Jason Dickinson have two goals combined in their last 10 games. Ryan Donato has one goal in his last eight games and Illya Mikheyev has not scored since November 5.

The Hawks need someone to contribute on offense besides Tyler Bertuzzi.

Soderblom

Coming into Saturday’s game, Arvid Soderblom had been going through a rough stretch. He needed to have a strong game. Instead, he allowed two first-period goals and never fully recovered.

He has now lost his last four start in a row allowing 9, 4, 7 and 3 goals in those starts. Perhaps it is time for the Blackhawks to give Drew Commesso a look in the NHL. Commesso current has a .913 save percentage and 2.59 goals against average in the AHL.

If not Commesso, perhaps trade candiate Laurent Brossoit should get a spot start soon. Brossoit is trying to make a comeback to the NHL after double hip surgery and knee surgery. Brossoit last played in the NHL in the 2024 playoffs.

The next hurdle for the Blackhawks will be Bedard’s MRI, which is scheduled for Monday. The Hawks’ next game is Tuesday against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

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Chicago Rinkcast staff members Andy Campbell, Sean Fitzgerald, Andrew Bard, and Jimmy O’Malley ESQ meet up in the Rinkcast Studio to discuss:

4 Nations Cup wrap.

The Seth Jones saga.

Ryan Donato’s great season and trade value.

Lukas Reichel’s benching.

Trade Deadline.

Some Trivia.

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Chicago Rinkcast staff members Andy Campbell, Sean Fitzgerald, and Jimmy O’Malley ESQ meet up in the Rinkcast Studio to discuss:

Artyom Levshunov gets hot in Rockford.

4 Nations Cup, Canada vs USA is a big hit.

Prospect Nick Lardis is on pace for, potentially, 70 goals.

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Chicago Rinkcast staff members Andy Campbell, Sean Fitzgerald, and Ray Napientek meet up in the Rinkcast Studio to discuss:

Red hot Ryan Donato and what that means for the trade deadline.

A brief look at some prospects.

What’s ahead in the Four Nations Cup.

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Chicago Rinkcast staff members Andy Campbell, Sean Fitzgerald, and James O’Malley ESQ meet up in the Rinkcast Studio to discuss:

Excitement over prospect Nick Lardis.

Artyom Levshunov’s recent practice call-up.

Other odds and ends from around the league.

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The post Blackhawks Rinkcast – Season 8, Episode 16 – Nick Lardis, Odds and Ends appeared first on The Rink.

Lardis was a third-round pick of the Blackhawks in 2023. He started his OHL career with the Peterborough Petes at age 16, and his game has steadily improved since. He scored 18 goals in his first year and 12 goals in his second year. After being acquired by Hamilton, he scored 25 goals in his first year. In his second year with the Bulldogs and draft year, Lardis scored 29 goals, his highest goal output.

This year at age 19, Lardis is putting together a special OHL season. Lardis currently has 42 goals in 45 games. He is on pace for a shade under a goal a game for the season. With 17 games remaining, Lardis will finish with close to 60 goals. The last Blackhawks prospect to top 60 OHL goals was Alex DeBrincat in 2016–17. While the OHL is an offense-heavy league, the last player to score 60 goals in a OHL season was undrafted Justin Brazeau in 2018–19.

OHL 60-goal scorers

Historically, 40 OHL players have scored 60 or more goals in a season. The most goals in a single OHL season belongs to Ernie Gooden with 87. Ernie played five NHL games and 142 AHL games. He had one NHL goal and 68 AHL goals in the 1980s.

While Ernie’s NHL career was not long, the second-highest season in the OHL belongs to Ray Sheppard. Sheppard went on to play 13 seasons in the NHL with Buffalo, Detroit, Florida, Carolina, the New York Rangers and San Jose. He scored 357 NHL goals, which included a 52-goal season with the Red Wings in 1993–94. He was drafted in the third round of the 1984 NHL draft by Buffalo. Other notable OHL 60-goal scorers are Eric Lindros and John Tavares.

The most recent players to  have scored 60 goals in the OHL are Reid Boucher, DeBrincat and Brazeau. Boucher scored 20 NHL goals in 133 game before taking his game overseas. DeBrincat has 235 goals thus far in NHL career with Chicago, Ottawa, and Detroit. Brazeau has 15 goals in two NHL season after working his way up through the ECHL and AHL en route to the NHL. 

Analysis

While Lardis is not being relied upon as a future cornerstone like Bedard, Lardis could still be vital to the Blackhawks’ future success. In the Hawks’ propsect pool, Lardis appears to have the best goal-scoring ability of the group.

In October of 2024, Scott Powers had this to say about Lardis:

Nick Lardis, winger, 19, drafted third round in 2023, Brantford (OHL): Lardis may be the Blackhawks’ most exciting forward prospect right now in terms of production. He’s scoring at an elite rate. He’s tied for second in the OHL with 10 goals and is second with 45 shots on goals in eight games. A couple of encouraging signs for the Blackhawks are that Lardis is scoring a lot of goals in dangerous areas around the net and scoring off passes. That’s how he’ll have to score at the next level.

While scoring 60 goals in the OHL does not guarantee you success in the NHL, it does give the player more opportunities to make the NHL. Lardis will be a professional hockey player next season, presumably with the Rockford IceHogs. With the graduation of Nazar to the Blackhawks, Lardis, Moore and Greene will be asked to score in the AHL. The biggest question will be, can Lardis’ scoring ability translate to the AHL and ultimately the NHL?

Regardless of how his career with the Blackhawks ends up, nobody can take away this special OHL season from Lardis.

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Elite prospects had this to say about Lardis:

“No matter where the puck arrives, Lardis finds ways to slam it into the net. He can do so while sliding backward, rushing ahead, with his feet pointed away from the target, and with instant catch-and-release motions. The winger understands how to set up his shots, where to move, how to move, and at what speed to get his stick on a pass and fire it in. He anticipates the flow of the play, keeps the puck in control of his team with short passes, and then pops open.”

Lardis was also voted the the second-most dangerous player in the OHL’s Eastern Conference in goal areas. While all of this sounds promising and good, nobody should be projecting Lardis to be a 40-goal scorer or point-per-game player next to Connor Bedard. Lardis projects as bottom-six NHL forward who can provide secondary offense, and that is fine and needed in this organization. To wishcast him as a future elite scorer is doing him a disservice.

Here are some of the things to consider when trying to forecast a younger player’s future.

Juniors numbers oftentimes do not translate to the NHL

For the people on X/Twitter who keep referencing Lardis and other future prospects’ numbers, I am here to let you in on a harsh reality. Juniors numbers often do not translate to the NHL. While historically good junior players have been stars, like Sidney Crosby, Patrick Kane, Connor McDavid and the young Connor Bedard, that is typically not the norm.

There have been other players with great seasons who have not panned out in the NHL, Rob Schremp and Stan Drulia are two prominent OHL examples.

Stan Drulia

Stan Drulia is an older example, but he had a historic OHL season in 1988–89. While he was 20, he recorded 52 goals and 93 assists in 47 games with the Niagara Falls Thunder. He capped off his OHL career with a record 479 points. Drulia played three seasons in the NHL appeared in 127 games and had 27 NHL points.

Rob Schremp

Onto the modern example of Rob Schremp. Schremp had a historic OHL season in 2005–06 with the London Knights. Schremp recorded 155 points in 57 games (57 goals and 88 assists). His 2.544 points per game that season ranks ninth all-time in the OHL. His teammate, Dave Bolland, had 57 goals and 73 assists. Both Schremp and Bolland powered the Knights to a runner-up finish in the OHL final. As we know, Bolland went onto have a successful NHL career and win multiple Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks; however, his offensive numbers never translated to the NHL. Bolland became a third-line player with 37 points as his career high in 2010–11 and the 2011–12 seasons. Schremp’s NHL career took a different path than Bolland’s. Schremp appeared in five NHL seasons with a career high of 26 points in 2010–11 with the Islanders. He was drafted 25th overall by the Edmonton Oilers in the 2004 draft.

All of this means that even if you have a historic OHL season, that does not mean you are guaranteed a successful NHL career, let alone as an elite producer.

Consider their draft status

As I have stated in a prior article, the lower you are picked in the NHL draft, the less likely you are to appear in 100 NHL games, so Lardis already has a tough road to climb to becoming an NHL regular, let alone a 40-goal scorer.

If you look at the 67th pick of the draft over the last 10 years, none of the forwards taken have ever scored 40 goals at the NHL level. In 2014, Warren Foegele was selected by Carolina. He spent fours in Carolina, recording 35 goals and 30 assists. He is currently Edmonton and has notched 42 goals and 49 assists in three seasons. In 2015, Blake Speers was selected by New Jersey. He appeared in three games with New Jersey in 2016–17 and two games with Arizona in 2021–22. In 2016, Matt Filipe was drafted by Carolina. He has appeared in zero NHL games. He is currently in the AHL in the Pittsburgh organization. In 2017, Morgan Geekie was picked by Carolina. He played with Carolina for two seasons, getting six goals and seven assists. Geekie went to Seattle for two seasons and recorded 16 goals and 34 assists. He is currently playing with Boston and is certainly not on pace for 40 goals. Since 2017, no forwards had been selected at 67 until 2021. Ryan Winterton has appeared in seven games with the Seattle this season with no points. Lastly in 2022, Arizona took Miko Matikka, who is still in college at the University of Denver.

No player selected at 67 in the last 10 years has scored 40 NHL goals in one season.

Blackhawks goal scorer history

Since the modern NHL draft of 1979, the Blackhawks have only had three 40-goal scorers who were drafted later than the pick 60 in their history. That was Steve Larmer, Darryl Sutter and Tony Amonte. Amonte was drafted at pick 68 in 1988. There has been only one undrafted 40-goal scorer in Blackhawks history and that was Steve Thomas in 1989–90 season. Every other 40-goal scorer in franchise history was drafted by a team higher than pick 60. Bobby Hull, Patrick Kane, Jeremy Roenick, Troy Murray and Rick Vaive were all picked before the 60th pick.

So before overhyping prospects like Lardis, please consider the historical context of where they were drafted and know juniors numbers do not always translate. We all hope prospects can exceed expectations, but in order to do so, there must first be realistic expectations.

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