Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard will be out for at least 6 weeks after No. 1 pick has jaw surgery

CHICAGO — Blackhawks center Connor Bedard is expected to miss six to eight weeks after he had surgery to repair his fractured jaw. “I mean if it’s earlier, great, but I think that’s probably a normal timeline for what they were thinking of what the procedure they did.” Bedard got hurt when he was leveled by New Jersey defenseman Brendan Smith midway through the first period of Friday night’s 4-2 loss to the Devils. “I think he’ll graduate to the bike in the gym after a surgery, and then get to the,” Richardson said. “But he’ll be probably trying to negotiate to get on earlier, I’m sure, but we’ll just try and manage that as best as possible.” The Blackhawks’ long list of injured forwards also includes Nick Foligno, Anthony Beauvillier, Tyler Johnson and Andreas Athanasiou. “He did a little bit of bumping today, but we didn’t have much bumping in practice so he’s going to stay back and do some more tomorrow, and then hopefully join us for a full practice on Friday and go from there.” ___ AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl