Connor Bedard will remain unavailable to the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night.
Head coach Jeff Blashill confirmed with reporters at the morning skate that Bedard wouldn't be playing against the St. Louis Blues, even though he took the ice in a regular jersey.
Meanwhile, his availability for their weekend games — against the Washington Capitals on Friday and Nashville Predators on Saturday — was still to be determined as he's considered day-to-day.
Bedard, 20, has not played since Dec. 12, when he appeared to be injured on a last-second faceoff against the Blues after getting pushed to the ice by Blues centre Brayden Schenn.
He grasped his right shoulder and immediately headed to the locker room.
A few days later, it was announced that Bedard had an upper-body injury and would miss at least two weeks.
However, on Wednesday, Blashill told reporters Schenn's shove had "had nothing to do" with Bedard's injury, when asked if there were any lingering issues with him going into the game.
"Zero, not one thing to do with anything Schenn did for the injury, had nothing to do with him," said the coach. "I have a ton of respect for Schenn. He's a great player; he carries himself the right way. It really had nothing to do with the injury."
Before his absence, Bedard had recorded 19 goals and 25 assists in 31 games.
