Blackhawks hosting huge draft watch party at Salt Shed concert venue near downtown. Fans sure Chicago will select Bedard, hockey's next generational talent AND that he'll sign with the team.
Blackhawks fans are confident general manager Kyle Davidson will finally call Connor Bedard's name with the No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft at Nashville on Wednesday night.
They also believe Bedard will go to the stage at the Bridgestone Arena and happily pull on red Blackhawks jersey with his signature No. 98 on the back. Then the 17-year-old forward from North Vancouver, B.C. has to sign a $925,000 entry level contract and agree to a package of bonuses that will bring his overall rookie pay to roughly $4.45 million.
After Chicago netted the No. 1 selection in the May 8 NHL Draft Lottery, Hawks-haters and nervous fans took to Twitter and suggested Bedard might "pull a Lindros" and shun the team if it drafted him. In 1991, Eric Lindros, also billed as a next generational talent, refused to sign with the Québec Nordiques after they drafted him first overall.
Lindros draped the Nordiques fleurdelisé sweater over his arm at the old Buffalo Memorial Auditorium rather than don it. A year later, his rights were traded to Philadelphia. (See our story on this site.)
Although Lindros revised his reasons publicly years later, he didn't want to skate for Québec because it's a small, francophone market. The Blackhawks are still dealing with image fallout from the team's botched response to the sexual assault of prospect Kyle Beach by video coach Brad Aldrich in 2010.
But per our Twitter poll, nearly 90 percent of respondents expect no Lindros-style drama from Bedard, who has stayed on message and repeatedly said it would be an honor "if" the Blackhawks draft him.
Davidson has stayed on message too, never mentioning Bedard by name as his top pick. The same goes for other prospects Chicago might take with a second first-round selection (19th overall) and four in the second round.
But Davidson thinks highly of Bedard, who's primed to become the foundation of — and catalyst for — the rebuilding Blackhawks
"Everyone’s seen how he’s handled himself in the lead-up to this draft," Davidson told reporters in Nashville. "Obviously [he's gotten] a lot of attention, but he’s shown a maturity beyond his years. He’s 17 years old but you’d never know it based on how he’s handled things."
See pre-draft video of Davidson in Nashville at:
https://chicagoblackhawks.app.box.com/s/7o8q2m4qp2f3kxg50li2843k6wlvyu91
When asked if the Hawks have received any trade inquiries about the No. 1 pick, Davidson appropriately responded, "Nope."
Assuming all goes to plan, Bedard will play his first regular-season NHL game on Oct. 10 at Pittsburgh and face Sidney Crosby, a future Hall-of-Fame center to whom he's been compared. Bedard will play his first home game against the Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights on Oct.21.