‘I’ve had gradual growth of exposure and pressure.’ No. 1 overall pick Connor Bedard believes the hype made him stronger

Credit: © Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports

NASHVILLE – What a difference in scenes year over year. In 2022, the Bell Centre exploded when the Montreal Canadiens announced the No. 1 overall pick. Juraj Slafkovsky’s name drew a mixture of cheers, boos and frenzied screaming. But this time, when the Chicago Blackhawks made the No. 1 overall pick for the 2023 NHL Draft? There was pleasant relief in the air at Bridgestone Arena as they made a pick telegraphed from the moment their lottery balls aligned on May 8.

Connor Bedard.

The smile, ear to ear, as No. 98 took the stage? It emoted a certain weariness for someone who couldn’t wait to finally don an NHL jersey and kickstart the most hyped career since Connor McDavid’s. It all finally begins for Bedard. He can call himself a Blackhawk in reality, no longer in theory.

“It’s incredible. I can’t put it into words,” Bedard said Wednesday night. “Growing up, that’s when they were going on their runs, winning the Cups. You watch a lot of them and you see the United Center going crazy and Chicago getting behind them. Original Six, so much history here.”

No matter how aw-shucks, Canadian-hockey-player modest Bedard wants to pedal it, the expectations for him as an NHL rookie will be mammoth. There’s no downplaying it for a kid who was known to hockey insiders by the time he turned 13 years old, who had an NHL-ready shot by his mid-teens, who arrived at the Draft combine earlier this month with the jacked physique of a 25-year-old UFC fighter. And the numbers, oh, the numbers. Bedard had 71 goals and 143 points in 57 games for the WHL’s Regina Pats this past season. He turned the 2023 World Juniors into his own personal wet paper bag, ripping off a hilarious nine goals and 23 points in seven games.

No pressure, kid, but the world expects you to be nothing short of amazing – immediately. The good news, in Bedard’s mind: there are certain advantages to being so good, so young and having the whole sport know it years before you’re even drafted.

“I’ve had a gradual growth of exposure and pressure for the last five, six years. So that’s been good for me. It wasn’t an overnight thing. I’m not focused on outside expectations. I’ll be focused on my teammates, coaches, family, everyone there, the staff, trying to win hockey games and be the best player I can be.”

Leave the outside expectations out of it: Got it. So what, then, does a prospect this otherworldly expect from himself?

Of course, as the cliché would tell us, he’s just one man. Kid, actually. He’s not even legally an adult until his 18^th birthday July 17. He’s blessed with the speed, strength, shot and smarts to be a point-per-game player immediately in the NHL. But he’s not willing to concede that he’ll even make the team yet. Oh, that modesty. So saccharine it’ll give you a cavity.

“Right now it’s having a good rest of the summer, training, getting better where I need to get better, going into camp, trying to have a good camp and make the team,” Bedard said. “If all that goes well, you start setting some goals. I like to set goals. But for now, I’m really excited for development camp and getting to know some people.”

Assuming he does make the team – LOL – Bedard won’t simply will the Blackhawks into the playoffs no matter how dominant he is. McDavid didn’t as a rookie. Nor did Sidney Crosby. Nor Alex Ovechkin. Nor Mario Lemieux. By virtue of putting themselves in position to compete for the Bedard pick in the first place, the Hawks are hollowed-out husk of a franchise at the moment, having shipped out the likes of Patrick Kane and Max Domi leading up to the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline. They took some early steps toward crafting a support system for Bedard earlier this week when they acquired Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno from the Boston Bruins. But those additions won’t turn the Hawks competitive overnight.

Whether Hall, 31, and Foligno, 35, actually move the needle in the standings might be secondary, however. What they will provide is mentorship. Hall, the 2017-18 Hart Trophy winner, brings the relatability as the 2010 Draft’s first overall pick. Foligno has long been known for most of his career as one of the best leaders and all-around people in the sport. The idea of Bedard living with him as a rookie would just make too much sense. And Bedard couldn’t contain his excitement over learning of the new reinforcements.

“It’s really special,” he said. “Those two guys have been through everything in the National Hockey League. So for me to get to learn from them, they’re unbelievable players. Just having those guys to ask questions to, and I’m sure they’re going to help the team win a lot of games, it’s awesome.”

The Hawks now get to turn the page on the darkest era in franchise history. They’ve seen three of their franchise legends depart in Duncan Keith, Kane and now Jonathan Toews. Former GM Stan Bowman resigned in disgrace, as did their former head coach Joel Quenneville, in 2021 when the news broke of their cover-up of Brad Aldrich’s 2010 sexual assault of Kyle Beach. The team’s reputation has been tarnished. They haven’t delivered a competitive season since 2017. And their attendance plummeted to just 83.7 percent of their capacity this past season, the 30^th-best mark in the NHL.

But one thing everyone can agree on: Connor Bedard has nothing to do with what’s happened, and he represents a reset for the franchise. It should begin Oct. 10 when the Blackhawks visit the Pittsburgh Penguins. Fill that popcorn bucket and start dreaming about Bedard sharing the ice with Crosby.

“I was trying not to look at the schedule – some people were telling me, I didn’t want to look too hard into it,” Bedard said. “But, man, if I’m able to make the squad come October, childhood idol ever since I can remember, that’ll be unbelievable.”

Unbelievable. That’s a word we’ve used to describe Bedard throughout his junior career. And we’ll quickly wear it out when he commences his NHL journey.

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‘I’ve had gradual growth of exposure and pressure.’ No. 1 overall pick Connor Bedard believes the hype made him stronger

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