Blackhawks healthy scratch star young defenseman Artyom Levshunov for breaking team rules

The Chicago Blackhawks have taken a major step forward thus far in 2025/26, and for the most part, that is owed to their young stars like Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar and Artyom Levshunov taking steps forward.

While the latter is often overshadowed, the former No. 2 overall draft pick arrived in Chicago with immense expectations, but now, it appears as though the 20-year old coming along in his development nicely.

Unfortunately, after a solid start to the season, Levshunov is set to be a healthy scratch for the Blackhawks next game as a result of breaking a team rule, as he reportedly arrived late to a recent team practice.

This is the second time in a few days we've seen a player punished for breaking a team rule after the Rangers did the same to Mika Zibanejad, and in just his second season, this will be a major learning point for the second-year blue liner.

Through 31 games played this season, Levshunov has 1 goal and 14 points to go along with a rough -5 differential, but already, he's shown that he can be a key piece of the Blackhawks blue line moving forward.

For now though, he'll need to accept his punishment and move on, and if he learns from it, it will be something he can look back on positively in the years to come, but for now, the hope is that it doesn't become a trend.