What we've learned about NHL's top 2023 draft pick and next generational talent this week in Chicago
Within 48 hours of being taken first overall at the 2023 NHL Draft by the Blackhawks, Connor Bedard was in Chicago at the team's prospect development camp for a busy week.
Bedard met with reporters several times, giving the rebuilding Blackhawks their biggest wave of positive summer media exposure since they last won the Stanley Cup in 2015. He was pitched many of the same questions, several times. He consistently gave the same answers.
Bedard unswervingly defines his image with this quote: "I'm still a 17-year-old kid, but there are possibilities that come along with noise and attention and stuff. And I'm aware of that, but you know in the room, I'm just one of the guys."
Bedard turns 18 on July 17. He will probably differentiate himself on the ice starting this fall, but for now still says he just wants to make the Blackhawks.
Other quotes that sum up Bedard's humility.
- We all make mistakes. I've made a million of them."
- You can never get anything in the past back. Every shift, you can kind of hit the re-set button whether it's the best shift of your ice or the worst shift."
- "I'm a normal person in the end."
Bedard met with reporters several times this week.We might have learned a few new little things about Bedard this week. None were controversial, of course.
- He's itching to get back on the ice. The Blackhawks camp was off-ice only. "It's been a pretty long time," Bedard said of his hiatus from skating "maybe the longest in my life."
- Although he's signed a corporate sponsorship with hometown Vancouver athletic apparel brand lululemon, Bedard is tight-lipped about using his ascending profile for additional potential deals. "I don't really know how to answer that," he said "I'm not sure what my agent is thinking or anything."
- Bedard's offensive numbers in junior hockey speak for themselves. But he also thinks he's "pretty good defensively" and he was "pretty good in the (faceoff) circle this year."
- His favorite activity during the camp was attending a Blackhawks off-ice learn-to- play event with youngsters on Chicago's West Side. "I liked that clinic, meeting with the kids," he said. "It was a lot of fun. We played a little floor hockey and to see their excitement when we came it was pretty cool."
- He enjoys pick-up inline hockey back home in Vancouver with friends.
- He hasn't been mobbed by Chicago fans yet. "But you're always in kind of a place there's security and stuff," Bedard said.
- Bedard did visit Chicago once before when he was very young. What he really liked this time about this city was a boat tour.
- He also enjoyed a visit to Wrigley Field with fellow prospects and throwing out the first pitch in a rain-delayed game last against Cleveland. (Photo at top) He throws right-handed. Bedard, however, apparently didn't remember all the names of the Chicago Cubs players he talked to.
- He was pleasantly surprised by the food the Blackhawks served players, especially for breakfast.