Bedard of Blackhawks ‘grateful’ to be selected to All-Star Game

NEWARK, N.J. -- Connor Bedard is obviously used to the big stage, the hype and the lights shining on him.

World Juniors in 2022 and 2023. The NHL Draft last year. Every one of the first 39 games of his first NHL season. Bedard was, is and will continue to be the center of attention, the star of the show, unmatched in his popularity wherever he goes with the Chicago Blackhawks.

The 2024 NHL All-Star Game in Toronto is next, but there Bedard will share the stage with the likes of Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Auston Matthews, Nathan MacKinnon and many others who are used to being what he is becoming, one of the best players in the best league in the world.

Bedard, the Blackhawks’ rookie center, was named one of the 32 players selected to compete in NHL All-Star Weekend on Thursday, becoming the youngest player in League history selected to compete in an All-Star Game. 

He will be 18 years and 201 days old on Feb. 3 when the All-Star Game is played at Scotiabank Arena. He's ready for it.

"It's exciting," Bedard said before sustaining a broken jaw in the first period of the Blackhawks' 4-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils at Prudential Center on Friday. "It's something you watch growing up. Seeing the list of guys going, it should be fun. I don't think about being the youngest too much; it's just exciting to be a part of it."

It matters to Bedard, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, that he got into the All-Star Game on merit, not just because at such a young age he already has household-name recognition and star power.

He leads the Blackhawks and all NHL rookies with 33 points (15 goals, 18 assists) in 39 games.

"I don't know if I would put it as a goal, but if you would have asked me if I wanted that, of course I would say ‘Yes,’" Bedard said of getting the All-Star nod. "It's really exciting now that I get to go. I wasn't thinking about it too much. I was just going out there trying to play my best and if it happened, it happened. I'm grateful it did."

Bedard also understands the benefits. It'll put him on the same stage and around players who have walked in his shoes before.

Crosby, McDavid, Matthews, MacKinnon, Bedard, New Jersey Devils center Jack Hughes and Buffalo Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin are the seven No. 1 draft picks who were selected among the first 32 players.

Bedard will be the only one among them to appear in an All-Star Game as an 18-year-old. He's the sixth 18-year-old selected to play in an NHL All-Star Game, joining Jeff Skinner (18 years, 259 days in 2011), Steve Yzerman (18 years, 267 days in 1984), Patrik Laine (18 years, 285 days in 2017), Dale Hawerchuk (18 years, 311 days in 1982) and Aaron Ekblad (18 years, 352 days in 2015).

"It's a great experience for him," Chicago coach Luke Richardson said. "I know he trains with some of these guys, the stars, in the summer, but to go and perform in a high-profile event with the NHL, it's only going to help him grow as a player watching a lot of these players, but also off the ice handling what he's handling so well already. It just gives him a chance to see some of the other guys handle it as well."

Bedard said, "When you can be with those guys, see how they act, how they are with people, it's definitely big and a bonus for me. Watching them and being around guys that have done everything in the League, it's good for me to learn from that."

More than anything, though, Bedard can't wait to enjoy the fun of it all. He has fond memories of watching NHL All-Star Weekend festivities with his father, Tom.

He said one of his favorite All-Star Game memories is watching John Scott steal the show in Nashville and earn MVP honors in 2016. Bedard was 10.

"I'd always tune in," Bedard said. "It's a fun weekend. It's big for fans. I was always pretty into it."

Growing up near Vancouver, Bedard said he used to go to Rogers Arena when the Vancouver Canucks would have their own skills competition. He said he has always been a fan of the hardest shot competition and the passing challenge because of the mini nets.

Now he may get the chance to be one of 12 players competing for $1 million prize in the reimagined 2024 NHL All-Star Skills presented by DraftKings Sportsbook on Feb. 2 (7 p.m. ET; ESPN, ESPN+, SN, TVAS).

"If I'm in it, hopefully I'll do alright," Bedard said.

He earned his first All-Star Weekend opportunity. That matters to Bedard, to the Blackhawks, to the NHL.

That it's in Toronto only expands the stage for the NHL's youngest star to shine.

"It's a mega market, one of the hockey capitals of the world," Bedard said. "It's pretty exciting, and I'm sure the fans will be into it. That's the biggest thing -- for them to enjoy it. Hopefully they do, but that's definitely a city that I'm sure they will."