Blackhawks win NHL draft lottery in the year of Connor Bedard
Oh. My. God.
That was essentially the reaction of general manager Kyle Davidson when it was revealed on ESPN that the Blackhawks won the NHL draft lottery Monday evening.
“I'm a little bit speechless to be honest with you,” Davidson said moments after NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly flipped over the No. 1 card in front of a national audience.
Only a few feet away in an adjacent room, Davidson's staff was anything but speechless. They were going absolutely bonkers.
And for good reason.
The Hawks, who had just an 11.5% chance to win the lottery, are now in line to draft Connor Bedard. Die-hard hockey fans know what that means.
But for those who haven't been following along, let's put it this way: The Hawks are about to draft a franchise-altering player in the mold of Wayne Gretzky, Connor McDavid, Patrick Kane, Auston Matthews and/or Sidney Crosby.
Davidson, still in a state of shock while speaking with ESPN's Kevin Weekes, went through a wide range of emotions in just five sentences.
“Any time we're able to add elite talent ... with the first overall selection it's a monumental thing,” Davidson said. “It's extremely exciting. At the end, it's one piece. It's a big piece, but it's one piece that will go into building this team down the road. We're excited and it's a great day.”
Davidson, who later appeared on NBC Sports Chicago and then met the local media, would obviously not come right out and say the Hawks will draft Bedard when the draft is held June 28 in Nashville.
But barring some truly strange turn of events, that's exactly what will happen.
Bedard, who will turn 18 in July, possesses elite stickhandling ability in the mold of Kane. His shot is lethally accurate (think Alex DeBrincat) and wicked fast (think Alex Ovechkin). He also can skate through traffic, find open teammates with ease and deke goalies with nasty back-and-forth moves that are extremely difficult to stop.
Bedard took to hockey almost from the time he could walk, which isn't unusual for many future NHLers. But this kid apparently took things to an entirely different level.
“From the age of three on, Connor always had a ball and a hockey stick,” Tom Bedard said in an article on NHL.com. “That's what he always seemed to be doing — not on the ice, but around the house. He would be stickhandling in our open kitchen, ruining the flooring, and he'd do it for hours.”
In that same article, we find that Bedard used to shoot pucks in the street until he broke a window. That forced him to the backyard. But no big deal — one of his neighbors decided to create a practice area, complete with synthetic ice and a net that contained the pucks.
All of this helped turn Bedard into something truly special. The 17-year-old scored 71 times and dished out 72 assists in 57 games for the Regina Pats of the WHL (juniors) last season. That goal total is the highest in the league since Pavel Brendl scored 73 in 1988-99.
Bedard also helped lead Canada to two gold medals at the World Junior Championship. In this year's tournament, he had 9 goals and 14 assists for 23 points, a Team Canada record and the highest total by a player 17 or younger.
“You're getting an electrifying player in Connor Bedard — somebody that eats, drinks and breathes the game 24/7,” Weekes said moments before the lottery results were unveiled. “A lot of the GMs tell me, ‘We can put our heads on the pillow at night and never have to worry about Connor Bedard based on how committed he is to his craft.'”
Unlike when Kane was selected No. 1 in 2007, these Hawks are nowhere close to competing with the best teams in the NHL. In other words, don't expect a deep playoff run in two years and a Stanley Cup title in three.
But this does significantly accelerate the rebuild. Already armed with an impressive 2022 draft class, Davidson is about to add a true generational talent.
Down the road, that will make Chicago an even more sought-after location than it is in the first place.
So buckle up, Hawks fans.
Because a new, exciting era is about to take off.