Blackhawks breakout watch: Connor Bedard might already be leveling up

During the 2024-25 season, there was much criticism surrounding the Chicago Blackhawks and the lack of a step forward the team had taken, and no one was under the media spotlight more than Connor Bedard.

After winning the Calder Trophy in 2023-24 as the NHL's top rookie, the expectations were sky-high for the former first-overall pick to lead the Blackhawks toward becoming a more competitive team. However, the season did not go as planned due to a multitude of reasons and Bedard faced the most scrutiny.

Bedard's rookie season saw him finish with 61 points in 68 games which was a 73 point pace if he had played a full season. This year he thankfully was able to play in all 82 games in which he had 67 points, which was a drop in production when compared to his points-per-game pace of last season.

One area that glaringly stands out as not having a positive impact on Bedard's season is the constant juggling of line combinations throughout the season. Under both Luke Richardson and Anders Sorensen, Bedard had never been given consistent linemates that he could develop chemistry with over an extended period of time. It was reported in February that Bedard had been a part of 36 different combinations over the course of 57 games.

The Blackhawks' most consistent line combination this season was Pat Maroon, Craig Smith, and Lukas Reichel who spent a total of 216 minutes and 39 seconds together, while the most amount of time Bedard saw with any given line was 109 minutes and 45 seconds with Ryan Donato and Ilya Mikheyev.

To put those numbers into perspective, the Winnipeg Jets top line of Kyler Connor, Mark Scheifele, and Gabriel Vilardi saw nearly 911 minutes of ice time, totaling 18.4% of the team's total ice time for the season. This further proves the point that the Blackhawks need to help Bedard in order for him to grow into a superstar in the NHL.

The Blackhawks end to the season saw a much different on-ice product than the beginning of the year due to the increase in young talent on the everyday roster, and Connor Bedard benefitted from having that extra boost of skill around him, scoring 15 points in the team's final 15 games.

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Bedard's success this season came on the power play, as he was the focal points of a unit that was seventh-best in the NHL at 24.9% which is an encouraging sight for the future. Where he thrives is when he's able to slow the game down and create plays and his 29 points on the man advantage attests that.

He has even become one of the league's more efficient generators at scoring chances off the rush, where he was fifth in the NHL in rush chances per game with 1.33 back in December.

However, at times it is clear that Bedard is a 19-year old still getting used to the speed and physicality of the NHL, which opens some areas for improvement. One area that stands out is making the simple play instead of waiting for the perfect play to open up, there were times where Bedard would hold onto the puck a little too long instead of getting a shot off or dumping it in and having someone chase it down.

Speaking of getting a shot off, Bedard should use his world class shot more often. His shot totals were down by 11 in comparison to his rookie year with only 195 shots on goal which suggests he may be under-utilizing his best attribute. The NHL's shot leaders this season were David Pastrnak (Boston) and Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado) with 319 and 320 respectively.

While there are some areas to improve upon for Connor Bedard, that is not to say he had a bad season. Every young player has room to grow and it is no different for those as highly touted as Bedard. In comparison, he is currently outproducing NHL stars Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado) and Jack Hughes (New Jersey) when looking at their point totals through their first two seasons.

This season presented many ups and downs for Bedard, but the consensus is that he will be just fine in the NHL and should see his gave elevate along with the team as soon as next season.

Connor Bedard's 2024-25 season grade is a B.