CHICAGO -- Connor Bedard has played in a rookie prospect game, participated in the first week of training camp and skated in two scrimmages.
On Thursday, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft will make his Chicago Blackhawks preseason debut when they host the St. Louis Blues at United Center on Thursday (8:30 p.m. ET; NHLN, NBCSCH).
“Yeah, I can’t wait,” the 18-year-old center said. “I think I’ve said this the whole time: I just want to play hockey. That’s what you want. You train so hard throughout the summer and every day, which is great, and you want to see where that gets you in the game.”
Bedard led the Western Hockey League in goals (71), points (143), shots on goal (360), points per game (2.51) and goals per game (1.25) in 57 regular-season games with Regina last season. He's gifted and he's been tasked with expediting a rebuild and helping bring the Blackhawks back to the success of their Stanley Cup titles in 2010, 2013 and 2015.
Fans have flocked to Fifth Third Arena, which seats 250, throughout training camp to watch Bedard. Now a bigger television audience will get to see what he can do.
“Thanks to a lot more information that fans can get, we’ve seen Connor Bedard for probably a year and a half now," Blackhawks broadcaster Darren Pang said, "and I’m sure Chicago fans likely feel like they already know him. Now you take that a step further.
“It’s a great number, he has a great personality and now they get to see him first-hand and every time he gets the puck it’s going to be an ‘ooh’ and an ‘aah.’ I’m not going to compare to my era, but I do remember when (former Blackhawks forward) Denis Savard first got the puck in Chicago Stadium and there was just an incredible anticipation of something great about to happen. Again, I’m very careful, I don’t want to compare him to 'Savvy' or to (former Blackhawks forward Patrick) Kane, but I think again, with the anticipation of what he’s going to do, is going to be the greatest reminder of why we love sports.”
What those watching will also see is the work the first-line center is putting in with his linemates, left wing Taylor Hall and right wing Ryan Donato. The three have been practicing together since Saturday, Hall’s first day at training camp after he missed the first two days with a lower-body injury. The three played together in scrimmages Monday and Tuesday and looked comfortable together.
“I saw some good chemistry out there, especially him and Hall,” Chicago coach Luke Richardson said.
“I think if there’s a bit of a turnover or something like that, they feel that and one of them will take off, the other one gets the puck and they almost broke free a couple of times in the first half. That was good to see, and I expect probably more of that and excited to see it in a real game.”
Bedard said communication between him and Hall has been great thus far.
“We’ve talked about it a bit, just areas we’d like to be and whatnot,” he said. “He’s a special player and he’s been doing it in the League for a long time now. Just trying to read off him and take advice from him, watch him play and I can learn a lot of things.”
Donato, who set up Bedard on a goal Monday before Bedard reciprocated Tuesday, was asked about any adjustments needed to play with Bedard.
“Not much, to be honest with you,” he said. “He’s such a good player, usually good players like that tend to make other players around them better as well. He’s definitely shown that. He’s making plays with everybody on the ice, it’s not too hard to get him the puck and get open or get him the puck to score.”
The Blackhawks may get their first in-game look at Bedard on the power play, too. They focused on it special teams at practice on Wednesday, when Bedard was on the top power-play unit with Hall, Donato, defenseman Seth Jones and forward Corey Perry. Jones said in anticipation of playing with Bedard on the power play, he watched videos of all of Bedard’s goals from last season, including on the power play.
“It took me a while," Jones said. "It’s like a 20-minute video or something. But it was nice to see where he likes the puck, where he scored most of his goals from. A lot of them are nice goals off the rush, things like that, but I was focusing on the power play more.
“He scored a lot of power-play goals the second half of the season. Really just him coming across the top, finding lanes, things like that, up the wall, and then obviously the screen’s important in front. I know he’s a shooter, he obviously has great vision as well. But when we’re interchanging up top, you see a lot of power plays going to that, just trying to find lanes to shoot the puck and reading off each other. I try to set him up for one-timers and things like that, and vice-versa, and see how it goes.”
Blues forward Jake Neighbours, a teammate of Bedard's with Canada in the 2023 IIHF World Junior Championships, said he's looking forward to the game, too.
"I know him somewhat, obviously," Neighbours said. "I played against him for a couple years in the Western League. He's a good kid, obviously a good hockey player. I'm excited to play against him tonight.
"Obviously there's a lot of hype surrounding him, a lot of pressure on him. I've talked to him throughout the process a little bit just to see how he's doing with it all. ... It'll be exciting to play against him and see how he does."
It's not going to be long before Bedard is logging regular-season games; he's expected to make his NHL debut against the Pittsburgh Penguins and his idol, captain Sidney Crosby, at PPG Paints Arena on Oct. 10 (8 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+). But for now, he’ll concentrate on that first taste of NHL competition Thursday.
“Of course, me being a guy coming in that hasn’t tested himself against those players, it’s pretty big to get in that environment and see how you feel, obviously, leading up to the season,” Bedard said.
NHL.com independent correspondent Lou Korac contributed to this report
