FEATURE: Bedard Exceeds Expectations in Sensational Rookie Year

Connor Bedard's rookie season was downright impressive.

Perhaps the NHL's most-hyped No. 1 pick ever, Bedard has been setting league and team marks both on and off the ice for the Blackhawks since the moment his name was called on June 28, 2023. And the statistical accolades for forward's rookie campaign are almost endless.

He led Chicago in goals (tied at 22), assists (39) and points (61) despite missing 14 games with a broken jaw from January into early February. His goal and point totals led all rookies — his 61 points a full 14 clear of the next best debutant and his 0.90 points per game were nearly a third more than any other rookie who played a quarter of the NHL schedule (0.58). And his 19:47 of average ice time led all rookie forwards by a full 90 seconds (18:07).

Naturally, Bedard has been named a finalist for the 2023-24 Calder Trophy, awarded to the league’s top rookie, and is the odds-on favorite to take home this year’s award.

At 18 years and 85 days old making his debut on Oct. 10 against Pittsburgh, Bedard became the 45th youngest player to lace up in an NHL game, and the fifth-youngest in Blackhawks history — the youngest in nearly 40 years dating back to Eddie Olczyk’s debut in 1984-85 (18 years, 56 days old). With an assist in the comeback win, he was the youngest player to record a point in his NHL debut since Aleksander Barkov (18 years, 31 days) and Nathan MacKinnon (18 years, 31 days) did so on consecutive days in 2013. And in early January, Bedard was the youngest player in NHL history to be selected to an NHL All-Star game (18 years, 171 days).

“I think it was incredible,” General Manager Kyle Davidson said of Bedard’s rookie campaign. “The expectation, the weight that was put on his shoulders, just given his profile walking into the league, that's really difficult to handle. I don't think anyone can adequately quantify the degree of difficulty of what he had to deal with off the ice to then go and perform on the ice … He's an 18-year-old player that had to go through more media attention than any player in recent memory, and probably more than any player entering league ever just given the social media age and the the age that we're in right now. I thought it was extremely impressive.”

What’s even more impressive, though, was Bedard’s impact on his team over the first three months of the season at just 18 years old.

In 36 games through Dec. 31, he posted 33 points (15G, 18A), tied for 34th in NHL scoring for that time period. When you consider Chicago’s 87 goals overall in that span, however, the rookie’s impact on his team is staggering.

Bedard scored the goal or collected an assist on nearly 38% of the Blackhawks goals, and scored over 17% of the team’s goal total himself. When you factor impact on respective teams into the equation, Bedard moves from tied for 43rd in points overall through Dec. 31 to ninth in the NHL in both the percentage of team goals with a point registered and in the percentage of scoring them.

Across the season as a whole, Bedard’s impact on the team remains at nearly the same rate as well, registering a point on 38.61% of the Blackhawks 158 goals in games he played, and his 22 tallies accounting for 13.92% of those goals.

Yes, Chicago had a historically low goal-scoring season — 178 total across the year, the franchise’s lowest in a season more than 70 games in length — but the offense from the very start still ran largely through the 18-year-old rookie playing at the NHL level for the first time. And when Bedard missed 14 games with a broken jaw, the Blackhawks record was just 3-10-1 (.250 point percentage) compared to a 20-43-5 record (.330 point percentage) across the other 68 games he was in the lineup.

“I don't think many other players could walk in and do what he did,” Davidson continued. “It was extremely impressive … When you know you your depth is depleted, it gives the opposition, a more specific subset of players to focus on. And obviously him being one of the top ones (for opposing teams) to focus on made his life even harder on the ice. So to produce the way he did I think was outstanding.”

"He was incredible,” said teammate Jason Dickinson, who shared the team’s goal-scoring lead with 22 on the year. “He's a world-class player. He's got all kinds of skill, he sees the ice incredibly well, and his future is bright. It's hard to believe he's only 18. I've got to remind myself that every day honestly when I see him that he is still a kid and there's a lot of growth for him and that his ceiling is quite high and that there are going to be some very memorable days here in Chicago all because of that kid."

Davidson has already set the expectation that the team’s overall performance needs to take a step forward next season, and as part of that, more impact players will begin to surround the budding superstar to provide depth to the offensive roster.

And as almost all rookie players do following their first years, Bedard is solely focused on getting better in the offseason, now with first-hand experience of the league’s level of play. What that means for his impact going forward will be dangerous for the rest of the league.

"I thought I learned a lot," Bedard said at the end of his season. "I think coming into next year, that’s going to be a big help for me. A lot of it’s off-ice. I’ve never obviously been a part of an NHL season. Of course, I was hurt for a little bit, but still played a lot of games in not so many days, so you kind of learn what you need to do and what your routine needs to look like. I think to just know that coming in and have that experience for next year is going to be huge.

"On the ice, what I need to get better at, I think that’s something even going into the summer is great to kind of know and know what the league’s like and how you can succeed and what more I can do to succeed."

"He's always trying to be a better version of himself," veteran Nick Foligno added. "It's impressive at a young age that he's got that already dialed in. I give him a ton of credit for the way he's handled this year and I look forward to him taking a big step next year too.

"That's what's exciting is, I still think there's a lot in Connor that is still raw and can be developed. That's a pretty scary thought, what he's been able to accomplish already at 18. The good news is he's the type of guy that doesn't get too caught up in anything. Now he's moving ahead and I'm excited to see a 19-year-old Connor Bedard."

All-Time Blackhawks Calder Trophy Winners:

• 1936: Mike Karakas
• 1938: Carl Dahlstrom
• 1955: Ed Litzenberger
• 1960: Bill Hay
• 1970: Tony Esposito
• 1983: Steve Larmer
• 1991: Ed Belfour
• 2008: Patrick Kane
• 2016: Artemi Panarin