Dietz: Hawks’ Bedard growing before our very eyes

“Generational talent.”

What is that, exactly?

Well, according to AI — and, yes, I asked the little devil to define it — he or she is “an athlete with an exceptionally rare combination of skill, impact and influence that appears only once in a generation or even less frequently. These players not only dominate their sport but often redefine it …”

OK, thanks. I prompt further: NHL examples, please?

A nanosecond later — Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Sidney Crosby, Alex Ovechkin, Connor McDavid, and more recently, Connor Bedard.

Hmm, interesting. I'd say we all agree with the first five, but it's unfair to Bedard to place him in this category already. Alas, that's the world we live in — top draft picks need a label the minute they hit the ice, gridiron, diamond or court.

Expectations were obviously sky high when the Blackhawks drafted Bedard No. 1 overall in 2023. He had a solid rookie season, netting 23 goals and 39 assists on an atrocious team. Last year, though, an undisciplined Bedard stagnated. It led to TNT analyst Paul Bissonnette blasting Bedard last February. “That is pond hockey,” Bissonnette said after a series of high-risk, me-first clips were shown.

Well, nine months later we are seeing a completely different player.

“Connor’s had a great start to the year,” coach Jeff Blashill said after Bedard netted his first hat trick in a 7-3 victory over Ottawa at the UC last Tuesday. “He's done so many things the right way. He’s defending hard, he’s stopping on pucks. He's doing a lot of things that … are winning hockey habits.”

Casual fans — and even some diehards — tend to judge a player solely on stats. In that regard, Bedard is off to a fantastic start as he leads the Hawks with 6 goals, 9 assists and 15 points.

But watch closely and you'll see little things going on as well.

Against Ottawa, Bedard took the puck over the offensive blue line while his teammates were changing. Four Senators were in front of Bedard. Instead of pounding the puck behind the net, though, Bedard stayed put and waited. For some reason, nobody attacked and it allowed Bedard to deftly drop the puck for Wyatt Kaiser.

Bedard left the ice, but he also left the Hawks in great shape. Nick Foligno battled hard for a puck along the boards, jarred it loose and brought it to the middle of the zone. A second later, Colton Dach pounded in a rebound to make it 1-0.

But it was Bedard who made it possible.

“He's so confident and he sees the game so differently,” Foligno said. “You see it a lot of times on the power play — he comes into the zone and flips it back to the ‘D’ coming late. I've never seen that before. Pretty impressive that a 20-year-old kid is kind of reinventing the game a little bit.

“That's just what he does. His confidence has grown and he's now impacting games in his own way in a way that it fits the team. It's not as high risk. It's more calculated. That's the maturation I'm seeing with him.”

Of course, Bedard can still bedazzle, with his second goal against Ottawa being a prime example. After knifing through two Senators in the neutral zone, Bedard raced into the O-zone, backed off a bewildered Artem Zub and whipped a 50-foot shot into the net to give the Hawks a 4-0 lead.

“That's what you saw and dreamed about (when he was drafted),” Foligno said. “The goalies don't have a chance.”

The Hawks, after dropping a 3-2 OT decision at Edmonton on Saturday, are now 5-4-3. That's quite a difference from Bedard's first two seasons when they were 5-7-0 and 4-7-1 after 12 games.

So it goes without saying this is the most fun he's had in the NHL.

“Personally, coming into the year, maybe (I had) a little better mindset,” Bedard said. “And just knowing the league and being a little more relaxed. It's easy to say that after a hat trick and a win, but our group is super motivated and loves each other. It's been a lot of fun so far.

“We just want to keep building that and keep having a good product on the ice.”

Bedard's maturation coincides with GM Kyle Davidson's decision to hire Blashill, who knows what it takes to win at the pro level. He led the Grand Rapids Griffins to an AHL title in 2013, coached the Red Wings from 2015-22 and spent the last three years as an assistant coach in Tampa Bay.

From the first day of training camp Blashill's staff talked about what “winning habits” look like. Clearly, Bedard was listening.

“He wants to win more than he wants the points,” Blashill said. “I would say that's true with the rest of the group … they want to win. They don't want to be scorers on bad teams.

“Day One, it was all about winning habits. That’s what we’re trying to instill here and that’s going to help lead to long-term success. It’s nice to see Connor have an offensive night (against Ottawa and) get rewarded for the good two-way play. Because what I don’t want is (him to) not get rewarded. Then all of a sudden you start cheating for your offense. That’ll equal not winning.

“He’s done it the right way. Good for him. It’s been great.”

John Dietz, a sports writer at the Daily Herald from 1998-2024, covered the Blackhawks from 2014-24. You can reach him at jdietz6917@hotmail.com.