NEWARK, N.J. — Connor Bedard never saw Devils defenseman Brendan Smith coming Friday.
Shortly after the Blackhawks rookie carried the puck into the offensive zone during the first period against the Devils, Smith stepped up and delivered a crushing high hit.
Bedard immediately skated to the bench holding his face and went directly to the locker room. Meanwhile, Nick Foligno, Brett Seney and a number of other teammates ignited a brawl behind the net.
Bedard didn’t return for the second period and was ruled out for the game, which the Hawks ended up losing 4-2.
Things got even worse in the second period when Foligno, the Hawks’ de facto captain, engaged with Smith in a lengthy fight to stand up for Bedard and injured himself in the process. Foligno didn’t return after that.
Coach Luke Richardson didn’t have much of an update on Bedard or Foligno after the game, saying they would be “checked out further” upon returning to Chicago.
“I haven’t heard anything other than that everybody is coming home tonight; everybody is fine to come home,” Richardson said. “There’s nothing much we can do other than get them home, get them to our specialists and see if everything is OK.”
It’s the first time in his NHL career that Bedard has dealt with an injury. The 18-year-old had appeared in each of the Hawks’ first 38 games uninterrupted, averaging 19 minutes, 29 seconds of ice time. He lasted just 3:05 on Friday.
Hawks forward Boris Katchouk said “everybody saw” Smith’s hit was “dirty,” but Richardson was less convinced.
“I don’t think [Smith] stepped up on him,” Richardson said. “I think he just kind of stopped, and Connor ran headfirst right into him.”
Hours earlier Friday, Bedard had discussed his nomination as the Hawks’ representative to the All-Star Game, obviously unaware of what the rest of the day had in store for him.
“I’m happy with being announced,” Bedard said before the game. “Obviously with our group, it has been a little frustrating lately with the results of the games. It’s good to go there and meet some of those guys, so it should be fun.”
Bedard’s and Foligno’s injuries continue a ridiculous run of bad injury luck for the Hawks, who lost forwards to in-game injuries in four of five games on the winless road trip.
The Hawks’ injury list now includes Taylor Hall (out for the season after ACL surgery), Andreas Athanasiou (out since Nov. 9 with a groin injury), Seth Jones (out since Dec. 10 with an injury to his left shoulder), Joey Anderson (out since Dec. 17 with an injury to his left shoulder), Taylor Raddysh (groin), Tyler Johnson (right foot), Anthony Beauvillier (left wrist), Foligno and Bedard. The only good news Friday was Richardson saying Raddysh had begun skating on his own.
Without Bedard and Foligno, the fired-up Hawks played with inspiration to keep the game competitive, but their roster looks comically short-handed moving forward, pending how much time (if any) Bedard ends up missing. Their schedule this weekend includes a practice at home Saturday before a home game Sunday against the Flames.
The combined salary-cap hits of the Hawks’ injured players nearly equals the cap hit of their healthy players, and Philipp Kurashev (22 points) and Jason Dickinson (who tallied his 19th point Friday) are their top scorers available at the moment.
“If you look at our roster, it seems like we’re going through it a little bit worse than others, but guys have to step up — myself included,” defenseman Jarred Tinordi said.
In Rockford, whose roster has been equally decimated by the Hawks’ number of call-ups, the next forwards in line likely would be Mike Hardman, David Gust and Anders Bjork, the last of whom would need his AHL-only contract to be converted. Coyotes forward Zach Sanford, who has 316 games of NHL experience and was put on waivers Friday, also might be an option.
