CHICAGO — A little more than four minutes into Saturday’s 3-2 victory over the Ottawa Senators, Connor Bedard did something that, simply put, no other Chicago Blackhawks player can do.
The Blackhawks were going for a line change, but Bedard was thinking a few steps ahead. He tossed a head nod toward defenseman Jaycob Megna, who was holding the puck while Nick Foligno and Philipp Kurashev glided toward the bench, then raced to the far blue line on the other side of the ice. Megna waited for a beat and then threw a stretch pass Bedard’s way from behind his own blue line. The pass was airborne, not flat, but Bedard managed to corral the puck perfectly cleanly on the forehand, in stride while facing the wrong way, then wheeled around in one impossibly smooth motion before camping out at the half-wall, hoping to find a trailer streaking down the middle for a scoring chance.
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There was no trailer, so it ended up a meaningless play. It didn’t even lead to a scoring chance, just a harmless Louis Crevier shot attempt that was blocked before it got anywhere near the net. It won’t appear on Bedard’s highlight reel from the game alongside his no-look pass to Kurashev that led to a Nick Foligno goal, or his own tally in the second period off a Kurashev feed, or the undressing he did of Ottawa goalie Joonas Korpisalo on a beautiful goal that was overturned because it was offside. But it was a spectacular bit of skill from the 18-year-old all the same. Only Bedard can make something as routine as receiving a pass seem special.
That’s what the Blackhawks have been missing for the past five-plus weeks. Not just the goals (though, good lord, did they miss the goals, having scored just 20 times in the 14 games Bedard missed with a broken jaw) but the sensation Bedard brings — the hope, the excitement, the tantalizing thought that just about anything is possible when he’s on the ice.
your first star of the night, with a goal and an assist ⭐️ pic.twitter.com/rQRINpo6xi
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) February 17, 2024
It’s not just the fans and organization that feel that, that need that. It’s Bedard’s teammates, too. Fifty-five games into an excruciating season — and after 14 games of exhausting, soul-sucking hyper-defensive hockey in his absence — even highly paid and highly motivated professional athletes need the emotional lift only Bedard can bring.
“We go as he goes a lot of nights,” Foligno said. “Off the rush, he’s so dangerous. It’s nice to have a guy like that, that’s thinking that way. A lot of times, we’re chipping it in with a lunch pail attitude, and he’s a guy that can make those plays and catch teams off-guard. … Those are the plays that you miss and are excited to see start going in for him.”
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Foligno brought his three kids to the practice rink Friday and to the United Center on Saturday and joked that “all they wanted to see was Bedsy.” But it’s not just the kids who are looking to Bedard for something to hang on to. It’s everyone. It might seem strange for a 30-something veteran such as Foligno or Tyler Johnson or Petr Mrazek or anyone else on the roster to look to a teenager for help, for hope.
But most teenagers can’t do what Bedard can. Most teenagers don’t elicit the feeling Bedard does.
“Not too often does an 18-year-old come in and have this kind of an impact on a team,” said Jason Dickinson, who muscled in his own rebound Saturday with 1:52 left to give the Blackhawks their first win in nine games. “It’s very few players that have the opportunity to do something like that, and it’s even fewer that take that opportunity and run with it. He’s a special player.”
Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson chalked it up to the “respect” Bedard commands, age be damned.
“He’s a special player,” Richardson said, echoing a common refrain this season. “Like, when Sidney Crosby was that age, I’m sure it had the same effect. (Connor) McDavid. And you can go on and on with those special players. Connor’s got that effect, not just with the fans but, obviously, in the game itself.”
Bedard didn’t win Saturday’s game on his own. Mrazek was his usual brilliant self, making 40 saves — 21 in the second period alone to keep the game within reach — and bailing out his teammates time and again. Dickinson, on the ice primarily to keep the score tied and ensure the Blackhawks got a point, stayed one goal ahead of Bedard for the team lead with his 17th. Kurashev was excellent, his natural offensive gifts brought to the fore again by playing with Bedard.
Bedard noted all of them. He called Mrazek “unreal,” saying some of his saves are “absurd.” He called Dickinson “unreal” too, saying he’s “probably one of the hardest guys to play (against) in the league.” And he called Kurashev “a stud,” “super smart” and “fun to play with.”
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But all those guys were here the last month-plus, too, and the Blackhawks were a miserable, moribund bunch for most of that time. Bedard changes everything. He brings possibility. Just as Bedard lifts every fan in the arena off their seat a little whenever he touches the puck in the neutral zone, he lifts the game and the energy level of every player on the ice and on the bench when he’s there beside them.
“Guys feel confident,” Richardson said. “When he comes downhill, I just think it’s going to go in every time.”
Bedard shrugged off the idea that he should be rusty after so much time away from game action, even if he had been skating for four weeks before he was medically cleared. He expected to step right in and pick up where he left off: as the league’s best rookie, as the Blackhawks’ best player. That’s not surprising. He has that unwavering self-belief, that well-earned arrogance that every star player has, that every star player needs. He has always been dominant, at every level, and his confidence seems unshakable.
What is a little surprising — what’s special — is how his teammates’ confidence in him seems just as unshakable. He’s a kid, just 18 years old. And he’s already the one everyone looks to for a goal, for a lift, for a dose of hope. Not just guys trying to establish themselves as NHLers, but guys who’ve been in the league for years, guys in their 30s, guys who’ve been to All-Star Games or won the Stanley Cup or been a team captain.
They all look to Bedard. And the kid just keeps delivering.
“It’s nice,” Bedard said of the way his teammates talk about him. “We’re all just trying to be ourselves, and I get a lot of inspiration from everyone in this room. Coming in as a young kid, not really knowing anyone, I’ve been really comfortable the whole time. We can all speak volumes on each other. But it’s obviously nice to hear that and know that you’re not the annoying little kid, (that) you’re maybe helping out a little bit.”
Maybe. Just a little bit.
(Photo: Patrick McDermott / Getty Images)