Central Notes: Bedard, Vanacker, O’Connor, Kiviranta

Blackhawks center Connor Bedard was injured in a last-second faceoff in last night’s game against St. Louis.  Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times notes that the 20-year-old has already been ruled out for today’s game against Detroit with there not yet being enough information to make any determinations beyond that.  More information is expected on Monday before the team embarks on a three-game road trip.  Bedard, the number one pick in 2023, is in the middle of a breakout season as he has 19 goals and 25 assists in just 31 games, a level of play that has him as a speculative candidate to play for Canada at the upcoming Olympics, assuming that this injury isn’t a long-term one.

Elsewhere in the Central:

• Still with Chicago, Hockey Canada announced (Twitter link) that Blackhawks prospect Marek Vanacker has been added to its training camp roster for the upcoming World Juniors. The 19-year-old was the 27th pick in the 2024 draft and is in the middle of a dominant season with OHL Brantford.  Through 26 games with the Bulldogs, Vanacker has 26 goals and 15 assists.  Considering the fact he wasn’t on the original invite list, he has some work to do to try to secure a spot on the final roster.
• The Avalanche have been without winger Logan O’Connor all season as he works his way back from offseason hip surgery. However, as Aarif Deen of Colorado Hockey Now relays, the 29-year-old is now dealing with another issue that head coach Jared Bednar says is still being evaluated.  The team hopes to know more about his status within the next week or two.  While he has been cleared from the hip injury, it appears that Colorado will be without one of their key bottom-six forwards for a while yet.  O’Connor is currently on LTIR although the Avs have a low enough team payroll at the moment that they’re not actually using it at the moment.
• Meanwhile, the news is better for winger Joel Kiviranta. The 29-year-old exited Thursday’s game with an eye issue but Meghan Angley of Guerilla Sports mentions (Twitter link) that Kiviranta will suit up tonight against Nashville.  Kiviranta had a breakout year for the Avalanche last season, scoring 16 goals in 79 games but offense has been harder to come by this year as he has been limited to just a goal and an assist in 14 outings so far.