Chicago Blackhawks Prospect Showcasing His Tremendous Goal-Scoring Prowess

The Chicago Blackhawks have a phenomenal goal-scoring talent in franchise centerman Connor Bedard, and there should be more excitement in the organization regarding one of their promising prospects who is making waves in the OHL this season.

This Oakville, Ontario native is off to an electrifying start, proving to be a hidden gem in the Blackhawks' system that could add even more firepower to the team in the future.

This past weekend, the Brantford Bulldogs registered massive victories over the Brampton Steelheads (5-3) and Niagara IceDogs (6-3).

Their impressive victories are largely attributed to the performance of star right winger and Blackhawks prospect, Nick Lardis.

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Lardis, drafted in the third round (67th overall) of the 2023 NHL Entry Draft by Chicago, scored back-to-back hat tricks and eight points over the two games. The young man is up to an incredible 20 goals in 19 games this season and is on pace for a 70-goal season.

His weekend started with a natural hat trick against the Steelheads Saturday night, potting home a couple of powerplay goals on Brantford's five-minute powerplay in the back half of the second period, before he sealed the win with an empty-netter.

His first goal was scored off his patent one-timer, a staple in his high-end goal-scoring ability.

Lardis is incredibly lethal from the right-side faceoff circle on the powerplay. Anytime he gets a clean one-timer off with no defenders in the lane, that puck usually ends up in the back of the net.

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Additionally, Lardis scored his 100th career OHL goal on his second goal of the game.

Nick followed up his incredible performance by matching his production less than 24 hours later in an afternoon tilt against the IceDogs.

His first goal against Niagara is a clear example of how even though Lardis isn't a big, heavy guy, he still is able to generate an immense amount of power behind his shot through proper shooting mechanics.

Lardis keeps his chest up and open towards his target. He gets his arms away from his body and pushes through his bottom hand on his shot to generate the torque of his stick, creating that quick release.

On his second goal, it's all about instincts. Instead of bumping the puck to his teammate low on the goal line, Lardis drives the slot since the penalty-killing forwards leave it unattended, and then buries his own rebound.

While four of his six goals this past weekend were on the man advantage — and don't neglect his potential to be a powerplay utility player in his NHL future — he had only three powerplay goals on the year before these two games. He has 13 even-strength goals on the season.

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Brantford has scored 67 goals this season. Lardis has scored 29.8% of his team's goals so far. 2025 NHL Draft top prospect Jake O'Brien is second on the team with 10 goals.

The 5-foot-11 winger is three goals behind Michael Misa — another top prospect for the 2025 NHL Draft — for the league lead in goals.

The Chicago Blackhawks third-rounder is a shooter at heart. His 101 shots sit second in the league behind North Bay's Owen Van Steensel. Lardis averages five shots per game and has a shooting percentage of 19.8%.

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His OHL career shooting percentage is 17.2%, displaying his innate ability to put that rubber biscuit into the back of the net.

While some may look at this and say "It's only junior hockey. Let's wait and see if he can do this at the professional level," it's hard not to identify Lardis' goal-scoring skillset and excellent skating as hallmark strengths in his game that will give him success at the next level.

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