The Chicago Blackhawks are going to take on the San Jose Sharks on Monday, which is much more than Connor Bedard vs Macklin Celebrini.
On Monday night, the Chicago Blackhawks are going to be taking on the San Jose Sharks. That means that Connor Bedard is going to face off against Macklin Celebrini for the first time this season.
These two are often compared for several reasons. They are from a similar part of the world, both have superstar talent, and were the number one overall pick in back-to-back drafts.
The truth of the matter, however, is that this matchup is a lot more than two players. It's even a match of more than two good young players. Both teams are loaded and stacked for the future.
"The reality is that the comparison over the years should be about the Chicago Blackhawks and San Jose Sharks," head coach Jeff Blashill said. "We're not in a points race for individuals to see how many points they can get. We want to win, and they want to win. To me, it's about that more than the individual comparison."
For San Jose, stars like Will Smith, William Eklund, and Sam Dickinson, amongst others, are looking to help Celebrini get the team to the top. For Chicago, it's Oliver Moore, Frank Nazar, Sam Rinzel, and Artyom Levshunov, amongst others, trying to surround Bedard with support.
"They're special players [Bedard and Celebrini] going at it, but it's a hockey game at the end of the day," Oliver Moore said of trying to support this matchup as a fellow young player. "Both of those guys would say that, too. It's just two hockey teams trying to win a game for each other and the guys in the room."
Each team even has a young goalie that they see as the future of the franchise. Spencer Knight is the guy for Chicago, and Yaroslav Askarov is the guy for San Jose. Backstopping these young cores will be a major key to each organization's overall success.
There will be a ton of emphasis on the individual matchup, which Bedard will deal with for his entire career against multiple different fellow stars, but each of these organizations feels strongly that it's more about the team game.
This belief is part of what makes the NHL so great. Everything is team-oriented, and no success will be had if you feel differently.
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