In today’s NHL rumour rundown, we look at Connor Bedard’s apparent should injury and what that could mean for the Chicago Blackhawks. We then move to the Washington Capitals and their reported trade offer for Quinn Hughes. Finally, after the two big trades this week, does that open up the rest of the league with the trade market set?
Bedard Set to Miss Upcoming Road Trip
Close your eyes and think back to Nov. 3, 2015. Connor McDavid has 12 points in his first 13 games in the NHL and is already taking the league by storm. All of a sudden, a tie-up with Brandon Manning goes wrong, and boom, broken collarbone. The whole hockey world was so upset because he was so fun to watch.
Not exactly the same, but here we are again with Bedard. In the final moments of the Blackhawks’ game against the St. Louis Blues, Bedard took a faceoff and a push from Brayden Schenn and left the ice in immense pain.
Now, Schenn had nothing to do with it. Bedard is clearly in pain from the upward movement from the faceoff, and not the contact that was made. Like the McDavid injury, most of the hockey world winced to see Bedard go down like that, especially given the season he has been having and the Olympics coming up.
Elliotte Friedman on Saturday Headlines reported that there are no answers yet, but he will not join the team, at least to start, the three-game road trip to Eastern Canada.
Friedman noted there was an MRI done, and the team is still collecting information. Fingers are crossed for a relatively short recovery time.
Capitals Had Rumoured Monster Offer for Quinn Hughes
Now that Hughes has been moved, there will likely be some more examples of what could have or almost happened. With many teams in the conversation, the Capitals got themselves into the conversation and had conversations with the Canucks about a pretty good package.
Jimmy Murphy of RG.org assures people that the deal was not formally offered or declined, but Connor McMichael, Cole Hutson, and two first-round picks were in that conversation.
This is a pretty similarly valued deal to what the Canucks got from Minnesota, though most would prefer the Wild’s package over this one.
Ryan Leonard was supposedly the main ask from the Canucks, which makes a ton of sense, but it was a non-starter for the Capitals in a package. He is their top young asset, and they have shown commitment to him.
Hughes & Jarry Trades Open Trade Market
Tristan Jarry and Stuart Skinner being swapped was something a lot of people could see coming, and Hughes being moved was a huge quesion, too.
There have been plenty of teams looking for a trade. The Ottawa Senators, Carolina Hurricanes, New Jersey Devils, Montreal Canadiens, and many more have been rumoured to be looking to make a big splash, and Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch believes that this could have opened the floodgates. (from Will Canucks, Oilers trades make NHL GMs play Let’s Make a Deal?, Ottawa Sun, Dec. 13, 2025).
With the Canucks, Nashville Predators, and potentially others on the verge of a fire sale, were teams waiting to see what domino would fall first? Is this setting a market for all of the others looking?
The most popular names out there are Ryan O’Reilly, Steven Stamkos, Nazem Kadri, Blake Coleman, Kiefer Sherwood, Conor Garland, and plenty of others. It often gets forgotten that there isn’t a ton of time between now and the trade deadline to facilitate a deal. With the holiday freeze, the Olympics, and then the trade deadline, teams may look at January as crunch time for the trade market, and these two deals may have started something big.
