The Chicago Blackhawks got great news on Tuesday. Connor Bedard is back after recovering from surgery on his shoulder.
Every injury activation, though, requires another action. Chicago needed a roster space.
And to clear that room, they in this case had to send someone down.
The guy getting the short straw? Nick Lardis, the 21-year-old winger.
He’s heading back to AHL Rockford.
Why Blackhawks Sent Down Nick Lardis
The Blackhawks haven’t yet seen enough productivity out of Lardis this season, and they haven’t been playing him very much, either.
The Chicago Sun-Times beat reporter Ben Pope posted this on X: “After a strong camp, things haven’t gone as hoped to start the year for him. He’ll get a chance to build up confidence in the AHL, where he dominated last fall.”
Lardis only turned 21 in July, so he’s got a lot of hockey left to play.
The Blackhawks took him in the third round of the 20232 NHL Draft.
Last season, Lardis had 10 goals and five assists in 41 games played.
This season, he has tallied just two assists through six games while being a minus-6. Chicago has given Lardis an average of just 10 minutes and 57 seconds per game.
The Blackhawks will have to shuffle their entire lineup around to fit Bedard back in, because he’ll obviously resume his top-line role. There’ll be a trickle down to the point of someone replacing Lardis near the bottom of the pecking order.
Nick Lardis Hope
There’s still reason to believe in what the 5-foot-11 winger from Ontario can do.
Lardis has been good at the lower levels in his career.
In his final season with AHL Brantford in 2024-25, for example, he had 71 goals and 46 assists for 117 points in 65 games.
And then last year with the AHL Rockford IceHogs, Lardis had 18 goals and 14 assists for 32 points in 35 games.
Throughout his career, Lardis has been a guy who scores more goals than he dishes out assists. He’s potent at getting the puck in the back of the net himself.
The goal for the Blackhawks will be to eventually figure out how to translate that impressive skill to the NHL level. They surely believe it’s possible, and Lardis is still young enough to figure it out.
For now, he steps down a level in competition, and he likely will look very comfortable on AHL ice.
Bedard is back on Tuesday night for the Blackhawks. As for Lardis, it’ll simply be up to him to push himself to get back to the NHL as soon as he possible can, and to make the most of his next opportunity up there.
Blackhawks Send Away 21-Year Old To Bring Back Connor Bedard