The 2023-24 season is officially in the books following Monday’s seventh game of the Stanley Cup Final and, before we fully turn attention to the upcoming entire-offseason-in-a-week, there is one player who is yet to be discussed in greater detail following the Blackhawks’ 82-game regular season.
And that player is the primary source of optimism for the long-term picture here, as Connor Bedard delivered on the promise of the generational talent that was his billing for several years prior to his No. 1 overall draft selection in 2023.
While just 18 years of age for the duration of the season — he turns 19 on July 17 — Bedard amassed 61 points (22 G, 39 A) in 68 games. He was tied with Jason Dickinson for the team lead in goals, while his 39 assists and 61 points were alone as the high mark in Chicago last season. He averaged 19:47 of ice time per game, which was tops among Blackhawks forwards and fourth on the team overall.
And, sometimes during that 19:47 per game, he did stuff like this:
And this:
And this:
And this:
And this:
So, yeah, the kid was pretty damn good and the primary mystery remaining is in just how good he will become over the rest of his NHL career. This season offered a ton of clues for that mystery, though, because Bedard’s rookie season showed off the plethora of hockey talent that had scouts salivating for years.
One number tells the story pretty well: 91.89 percent IPP, per Natural Stat Trick. That’s Individual Point Percentage, or the percentage of goals scored by Chicago with Bedard on the ice that resulted in Bedard earning a point. Among NHL forwards who skated at least 200 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time this season (there were 462 of them), Bedard was FOURTH. That’s likely both a tribute to Bedard’s incredible talent and an indictment of the quality of his linemates. Still, it’s a ridiculous number. He’s ahead of some of the game’s biggest stars, like Artemi Panarin (13th at 83.33), Nikita Kucherov (16th at 82.72) and old friend Patrick Kane (18th at 81.82). Connor McDavid was down at 27th at an even 80.00.
A few clips help tell the story of why Bedard was involved in so many of the goals scored while he was on the ice, and they all revolve around Bedard’s ability to diagnose the play as it was developing and create a scoring chance out of situations that initially looked like nothing. Here’s one such goal against the Anaheim Ducks, started entirely by a well-timed Bedard swipe of the puck at the offensive blue line:
The Ducks were a bad team, though. So how about one against the eventual Stanley Cup champions?
Here’s a personal favorite from November against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Watch Bedard lift Kucherov’s stick, toss a blind backhand pass to Nick Foligno and then take off towards the goal for a 2-on-1 that he finished himself:
It’s all right there for you in that goal. First, it’s the Lightning-quick hands to lift an opponent’s stick, take possession of the puck and fire a backhand pass all in one instant that took less time than it took to read this sentence. Then, it’s the hockey sense to know where his teammate was without even looking and the IQ to move himself up ice after making the pass for the odd-man rush that was developing. Yeah, Bedard’s shot is amazing and his ability to pick a corner will make have him eclipsing 30, 40 and 50-goal plateaus — and maybe more! — later in his career. But it’s these little flashes of all-around hockey skills and smarts that are going to make him such a joy to watch for the next 15 or 20 years or so.
Let’s not diminish his ability to set up teammates with easy tap-in goals, either:
And there’s plenty of data to back up the eye tests afforded by the clips above. Bedard’s possession numbers may not have been great, but that can be chalked up as playing on one of the worst teams in the league, and Bedard is already showing signs of not being the type of player who needs high quantities of puck possession to be a lethal offensive weapon.
The data below from Corey Sznajder’s All Three Zones project shows that Bedard was among the league’s best at getting the puck into the offensive zone successfully, and that he was among the game’s best at passing from the most precious frozen real estate that hockey offers in the center of the offensive zone.
The overall blue shades from the offensive categories above offer more signs of encouragement that Bedard is not merely a goal-scorer: he’s an all-around, swiss army knife of a forward who can create –and finish — chances for himself while also having the ability to create for those fortunate enough to be skating alongside him. But if there’s one area where Bedard’s microstats shine above the rest, it’s in the zone-entry category, indicative of a player who could successfully move the puck into the offensive zone at a rate higher than the overwhelming majority of NHL players. Those zone entries may not show up on as many highlights and aren’t as noticeable during game action, but goals cannot be scored without successfully moving the puck into the offensive zone — and that’s something Bedard can do about as well as anyone.
Bedard’s zone-entry numbers aren’t all that far off from the 2024 Conn Smythe winner, are they? The hope is here is that, as time goes on, Bedard learns how to navigate the offensive zone as well as McDavid has, and the General Offense/Passing categories turn towards similar shades of blue as on McDavid’s player card.
The most important thing to understand about Bedard, though, is that he’s miles away from a finished project, a thought that should put a smile on the face of every Blackhawks fan and plant a seed of dread in the mind of the other 31 NHL fan bases. There were certainly flaws exposed this season in Bedard’s game: correctable things like lapses in defensive coverage and turnovers in the neutral zone or near the offensive blue line that quickly led to chances and goals the other way.
But those are all things Bedard can — and almost certainly will — fix as he continues to adjust to the NHL. And then the league will adjust to him, only for Bedard to find another way to counter that counter as part of the never-ending game of chess that exists in the top hockey league in the world.
The fun lies in seeing what Bedard does to come out on top the next time.
Oh, and just in case all of this wasn’t enough — it has been over two months now since we’ve seen Bedard skate in a Chicago uniform, after all — here are 14-plus minutes of Bedard highlights from his rookie season: