Both Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson and presumptive No. 1 pick Connor Bedard are cautiously saying and doing all the right things heading into the 2023 NHL Draft.
Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson still hasn’t mentioned any names when it comes to the team’s No. 1 overall pick – or any of Chicago's 11 selections at the 2023 NHL Draft.
Presumptive No 1. pick Connor Bedard still hasn’t said he’ll sign with the Blackhawks if they draft him.
It’s all about positioning, PR… and covering your “assets” in case something doesn’t click.
Fresh from sweeping Canadian Hockey League awards as the best major junior player in a generation, Bedard’s messaging was spot-on as the 17-year-old forward met with reporters at Las Vegas during the Stanley Cup Final.
“You don’t find out until the draft of course,” Bedard said when asked about the Blackhawks potentially drafting him. “If they decide to take me, that would be unbelievable, but we’ll see what happens come the draft.”
Bedard kids with TNT pregame panelBedard stayed on-message when he chatted with Wayne Gretzky, Henrik Lundqvist and the rest of the TNT pregame panel before Game 2 between the Vegas Golden Knights and Florida Panthers.
“If they decide to take me that would be unreal with the history, the other sports, the culture there and their love of sports,” Bedard said. “We’ll see. There’s so many good players in this draft. If they do decide to take me I’d be incredibly honored.”
Blackhawks haters still haven’t toned down calls on social media for Bedard to “pull a Lindros” and not sign with the Blackhawks if they call his name first overall at Nashville on June 28.
Twitter "pulls a Lindros."Like Bedard, Eric Lindros was billed as generational talent that a team can build – or rebuild – around. The Québec Nordiques drafted Lindros first overall in 1991, but he refused to sign with them and ended up having his rights traded to Philadelphia a year later.
Lindros indicated, however, that he didn’t want to play in Québec, citing “a lack of winning spirit” in the organization. He also didn’t want to skate in the NHL’s smallest market. The general impression was that Lindros, from the Greater Toronto Area, also didn't want to play in a French-speaking market. Even Brian Mulroney, Canada's prime minister at the time, called Lindros out on TV for that.
Interestingly, Lindros updated his reasons for spurning the Nordiques after a string of concussions forced him to retire in 2007. He said he didn’t want to play for team owner Marcel Aubut, who later was accused of sexual harassment by a female colleague. See a segment from Sportsnet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm1b3_u4c9U
Many of the anti-Blackhawks Twitter commenters say Chicago didn't deserve to win the No. 1 pick in the draft – or shouldn’t have been eligible -- based on the team’s slow, tepid response after former video coach Brad Aldrich’s sexually assaulted prospect Kyle Beach in 2010. The Blackhawks drafted Beach 11th overall in 2008
Some Twitter comments point to Gretzky’s 2022 on-air assessment of what happened to the prospect.
"But I'm sitting here thinking, as a parent, you're sitting here going 'my son is 18 years old, he's going to maybe be drafted by that team,’” Gretzky said last year. "I want to know my 18-year-old son is going to be protected.’
The Blackhawks were fined $2 million by the NHL, settled a lawsuit with Beach and under president Danny Wirtz have put into place new procedures to react quickly to harassment of any employee.
So the Blackhawks figure to draft Bedard, barring something unforeseen.
It’s unlikely that Bedard will shun Chicago, barring something unforeseen, if Davidson calls his name on June 28.
The smallish, quick Bedard’s on- and off-ice styles are nothing like those of Lindros, who at age 18 was a 6-foot-4, 220-pound man-child power forward when the Nordiques drafted him. Both forwards, however, have been billed as generational talents that a team can build – or rebuild –around.
Although the Nordiques were forced to trade Lindros' rights to the Flyers in 1992, Québec probably got the better of the deal. The team improved quickly and went on to win the Stanley Cup in 1996 immediately after moving to Colorado.
So if Bedard did “pull a Lindros,” it might complicate things for Davidson. It might not derail the Blackhawks rebuild.
A story on Lindros and his saga with the Québec Nordiques is coming. I covered it in 1991 and 1992