The Colorado Avalanche and Chicago Blackhawks finished the 2025-26 season on opposite ends in the Central Division standings. The Avalanche were the league’s best team while Chicago was 31st (in terms of total points).
That was even with former first-overall pick Connor Bedard playing in 69 games and recording 30 goals and 45 assists. Bedard has been a 20-plus goal scorer in each of the first three seasons in his young career, so he is certainly a threat.
Now, word is out that Bedard has undergone shoulder surgery and will be out for around four months. That puts us sometime in November. By then, I would expect both Chicago and Colorado to have faced each other at least once. That won’t be with Bedard in play.
Bedard led the Blackhawks in assists and was second on the team in goals to only Tyler Bertuzzi, who had 32. He had seven power play goals through the 2025-26 season, as well.
Where do the Avalanche stand against the Blackhawks with this news?
Really, it would be shocking if the Avalanche were to fall to the Blackhawks. They would have to be on a brutal stretch of bad play, which we rarely saw last season.
Having Bedard out through November is going to hurt the Blackhawks’ development as they look to improve on some very gloomy years.
Colorado is 7-3 against the Blackhawks in their last 10 meetings. Four of those meetings were shutouts, with Colorado earning five goals in two of those games each.
Getting off to fast starts was essential for the Avalanche last season in their journey as the Presidents’ trophy winner. They scored the first goal of the game many times, and were also dominant in the third period all season.
The Avalanche were at or near the top of the league by season’s end in each of the “danger shots” categories (low-medium-high), which is always something you want to see. If they capitalize that same exact way this season, they are going to continue to dominate the league.
The Avs were 31st in the league in hits given last season, so I would love to see them heavily improve on that. Doing so against Chicago could ensure that they enforce dominance against their division foe, and wear them down in an attempt to come out on top. Bedard missing at least one of those matchups would be huge, as the Avalanche would not have to worry about his scoring abilities. They would be able to set their eyes on other tasks against the Blackhawks.
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