The NHL announced Wednesday that the Chicago Blackhawks will open their 2026-27 season on Tuesday, Sept. 29, against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena, the late game of the league’s opening-night tripleheader on ESPN. The home opener comes a week later, on Tuesday, Oct. 6, against the St. Louis Blues at the United Center. The complete schedule — expanded to 84 games this season, with two additional divisional matchups per team — is due out Thursday at noon Central.
Both dates land inside Connor Bedard‘s recovery window. Chicago announced on July 8 that its franchise center had undergone left shoulder surgery with a roughly four-month recovery timeline, which projects to an early-to-mid November return. Barring rehab that beats the team’s own estimate, the Blackhawks will play opening night, the home opener and most of October without the player the rebuild is organized around. Bedard, who turns 21 on Friday and remains an unsigned restricted free agent, led Chicago with 75 points in 69 games last season.
That makes October an evaluation month whether Chicago wanted one or not. The centers behind Bedard will take real NHL minutes against real NHL lineups, a group that could include prospect Sacha Boisvert, who arrived at development camp noticeably bigger ahead of his first full professional season. Those weeks will show who takes the open minutes, who keeps them, and what the lineup looks like when its No. 1 center returns to claim his spot. There is a December marker on the calendar too: the league confirmed Chicago will face the Ottawa Senators in Düsseldorf, Germany, on Dec. 18 and 20 as part of the Global Series — games Bedard should make comfortably if his recovery stays on schedule.
Fantasy managers can now put real dates on the absence. The 15-to-20-game miss this desk projected after the surgery begins with opening night and runs through most of October, so Bedard slides out of the early rounds of redraft boards but becomes one of the better stashes available wherever an injured-reserve slot exists. His per-game scoring is untouched by any of this, and in dynasty formats nothing about a shoulder rehab changes what he is.
