The Chicago Blackhawks are developing a special player as Connor Bedard is turning into a superstar.
Connor Bedard, following his second hat trick of the season on Tuesday night against the Calgary Flames, now has 13 goals and 16 assists for 29 points in 19 games played. He is tied for second in goals and is a top-five scorer overall. On this pace, Bedard would end the season with 125 points.
Right now, NHL fans are starting to see why Bedard was one of the most hyped up prospects to ever come out of major junior. At this point, he is living up to everything he was expected to do and more.
On Tuesday, with captain Nick Foligno and alternate captain Jason Dickinson out of the lineup, Bedard had an "A" on his sweater for the first time in the regular season. That's a big deal for a 20-year-old in the NHL, who is now seen as one of the leaders on the team.
Being a good leader doesn't help put the puck in the net, but it helps the team around you play better and trust that you are going to do the right things that lead to wins.
In his first game with the leadership patch, Bedard scored the aforementioned hat trick, helping the Hawks secure another victory. For a player that young to be doing this makes him one of the brightest stars in the league.
Oliver Moore, who is a little bit older than Connor Bedard despite their difference in games played, knows how special Bedard is.
"What he's doing right now is huge. The way he's playing on both sides of the puck, it's leadership." Moore said of Bedard's. "He definitely earns it. I had to laugh. He’s six months younger than me, wearing an A".
Bedard put in the work to be able to take his game to the next level this season. His skating was somewhat of an issue in his early NHL days, but that is seemingly fixed. He is faster, stronger, and more tenacious on every play.
His first goal of the three he scored on Tuesday was him putting in more effort and speed than everybody else, combined with a bit of luck.
"I guess it can be," Bedard said when asked if his new and improved skating is the reason he was able to score that goal. "Like I said, it's a lucky goal in a sense, but I guess I got there, so that can feel good."
Bedard continued to say that the "A" on his chest didn't impact his overall play at all. He would have tried to score every goal just the same, whether he was an alternate captain or not. He believes all 11 forwards in the lineup would have tried to make the same play with the same amount of effort.
"It's great for sure." Connor Bedard said of wearing the letter. "It's a great honor and something that I don't take lightly. It's cool."
Sometimes, your abilities on the ice force some leadership into your game. When you think about some of the best players in the league over the last 25 years, Sidney Crosby, Alexander Ovechkin, Connor McDavid, Auston Matthews, all of these guys are captains. Bedard seems to have the attitude and willingness to handle such an important role.
Bedard's teammates enjoy being around him. Oliver Moore had nice things today, and during Bedard's media scrum, Andre Burakovsky gave some hilarious commentary from the background:
“I’m the hottest player in the league, my name’s Connor Bedard. I’m nasty,” Burakovsky seems to be enjoying the run that Bedard is on, and you know he hopes to see it continue.
Jeff Blashill has been around some incredible superstars in his day. He has seen guys like Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg, Steven Stamkos, and Nikita Kucherov up close, so he knows what it takes for these superstars to be successful.
"The thing I like most about [Bedard] is the consistency in his approach," Blashill said when asked about Bedard. "Points do come and go; now, for a guy like him, they come more than they go, but his consistency in his approach has been really good. [It's] the fact that he's come and competed, stopped on pucks, played pretty good defensively, really tries to do the right things on a consistent basis, and then he gets rewarded for that with offense. He's a very talented player, but what makes him a winning hockey player is his approach."
It's one thing for your head coach to praise your talent; it is another for them to admire the way you approach the game and compete. When talent meets hard work, you get what Connor Bedard is doing in the NHL right now. It is those things that earned him the leadership role in Coach Blashill's mind.
"The biggest thing for me is that we lost two guys that wore letters," Blashill said on Bedard earning the "A" on his sweater. "We needed someone, and ultimately he earned it."
Now, it's on Bedard to continue growing as a leader and player. He doesn't even turn 21 until next July, so there is plenty more development still to go before he reaches his true potential.
On and off the ice, he has turned himself into one of the most special players in the league at such a young age. The possibilities are endless when you imagine what this will look like when he's 28.
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