3 Blackhawks players dealing with adversity for the first time in their NHL careers

The Chicago Blackhawks are going to be dealing with some adversity while superstar Connor Bedard is out. Bedard's injury is not the only player issue the organization is dealing with.

The Blackhawks do not know how long they will be without Bedard, who exited last Friday's game with an apparent shoulder injury. It is a huge blow to the offense, where Bedard has scored or registered an assist on 44 of the team's 91 goals.

It would be nice if Frank Nazar could get going offensively to make up for Bedard's missing offense. Nazar is one of three players going through adversity for the first time in their young careers.

Frank Nazar's goal drought

Nazar has not scored since October 28 against Ottawa. He was playing at a high level in October, which showed he was worthy of a generous offseason contract despite having only played 56 career NHL games. He racked up five goals and six assists during the opening month.

Since the calendar flipped to November, Nazar has just nine assists. He has gone without a point over the past five contests.

The talented center must snap out of this offensive funk if this team is going to survive Bedard's absence. It would make sense to pair him up with fellow youngsters Oliver Moore and Nick Lardis. All three are playmakers who can set up each other for scoring chances.

However, skating with veteran Andre Burakovsky should still create scoring chances for the young emerging star.

Sam Rinzel & Landon Slaggert's struggles already earned them a demotion

The hope was that Rinzel would be contending for the Calder Trophy. Instead, he got off to a shaky start during his first full NHL season.

Things got so bad that he lost confidence in his ability to bring up the puck. That is the biggest strength of his game. The hope was that a healthy scratch would get him going. It did not work out as well as it did for his fellow rookie, Artyom Levshunov. Rinzel's play continued to spiral after being benched on November 15.

That crisis in confidence necessitated a recent demotion to Rockford.

Rinzel is not moping in Rockford as he already has five assists for the IceHogs. It sounds like he is getting his swagger back.

Getting him confident with the puck again would be huge for the offense since the young defenseman is so good at carrying the puck up the ice.

Slaggert has never been able to get going after suffering an injury in the preseason.

The preseason injury allowed fellow youngsters such as Ryan Greene and Moore to take his projected spot on the third line. Jeff Blashill preferred to go with 11 forwards and seven defenders, which left ice time limited for the 23-year-old forward.

He is now in Rockford to get regular work (he scored a goal on December 10 for the IceHogs). He faces an uphill climb to carve out a role on the NHL roster when he returns. First, he must get himself going to prove he deserves a spot back on the 23-man active roster.