Bedard, likely No. 1 pick, joins 'NHL Draft Class' podcast from Combine

BUFFALO --Connor Bedard, the expected No. 1 pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, understands what likely will happen when he gets to Bridgestone Arena in Nashville on June 28.

Bedard, who arrived here for the 2023 NHL Scouting Combine presented by adidas on Tuesday, told the "NHL Draft Class" podcast that he's trying not to look that far down the road.

"I'm just trying to kind of take things day by day," he said. "It's exciting coming here and getting to talk to teams and everything like that. But for me, it's just kind of trying to live day by day. Obviously [the draft is] in the back of your mind, you want that to happen. But I know for me, it's just kind of trying to stay in the moment."

That moment includes interviews with six teams, including the Chicago Blackhawks, who hold the No. 1 selection, as well as preparing for medical and fitness testing, which will continue through Saturday.

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Bedard, a 17-year-old center who played for Regina of the Western Hockey League this season, won the Canadian Hockey League Top Prospect, Top Scorer, and David Branch Player of the Year awards. No player had won all three in the same season since the Top Scorer award was introduced in 1994.

Blackhawks director of amateur scouting Mike Doneghey also joined co-hosts Adam Kimelman and Mike G. Morreale to discuss how Chicago approaches the combine, if their plans changed after they won the NHL Draft Lottery on May 8, and if he would label Bedard as a generational player.

"I think it's tough to use the word 'generational' because you're still dealing with 17-year-old kids," Doneghey said. "Obviously in his age group he's one of a kind, as well as guys in the past have been, the [Connor] McDavids of the world, Auston Matthews of the world. They have been able to do it on the next level. So [Bedard] still has to prove, as they all do, that when they're playing against bigger, older, faster players, that they're able to replicate what they did with their own age group. I don't want to put, you know, that moniker on him yet.

"But every indication and every place he's been, whether it be World Juniors, whether it be just in the WHL, the CHL prospect games, he's exceeded expectations at every level."

The podcast is free, and listeners can subscribe on all podcast platforms, including iTunes, Spotify and Google Podcasts. It also is available on NHL.com/multimedia/podcasts and the NHL app.

Listen: New episode of NHL Draft Class