It feels like the Connor Bedard shade has reached the hassling stage

Connor Bedard received another 10-minute game misconduct penalty for no valid reason.

He picked one up on Thursday against the San Jose Sharks, which was uncalled for. Bedard got another in his hometown for backing up a teammate. Heaven forbid that should happen.

Now the referees are getting in on trying to knock Bedard down a peg.

This did not happen last season. Bedard was treated as the next big thing during his rookie season. He was the toast of the NHL.

This season, not so much.

A sophomore season in which he has pretty much stagnated, at least goal-scoring-wise, and even at one point this season, he was regressing, has opened him up to criticism.

Blackhawks legend Jeremy Roenick ripped Bedard for supposedly not giving JR his proper respect before the Winter Classic. Even though Bedard was trying to focus on playing in a major event, Roenick felt disrespected because his dare Bedard not shake his hand before puck drop.

NHL legend Mark Messier suggested Bedard get benched for not going hard enough toward a loose puck that led to a goal. Again, Bedard is supposed to play perfectly out there despite not having the help Messier had early in his career.

TNT’s Paul Bissonnette suggested Bedard was playing pond hockey because he should be beyond the point of figuring out what works in the NHL and what should stay back in the juniors.

A lot of the shade came across as jealousy, unrealistic high standards, or trying to knock him down a peg.

Hey, that is the process an amazing player has to go through to reach superstar status in the NHL. Other leagues, such as the NFL or NBA, try to protect their emerging superstars. The NHL almost hazes them.

Hockey players always use colorful language on the ice, so unless Bedard said something that would make the pope blush, these game misconduct penalties are just another example of going from knocking him down a peg to hassling him. It all feels like this is intended to have Bedard know he has to earn being special.

It is as if the league is saying well, you only have 17 goals this season, kid, do better to get the respect back.

The NHL has long been terrible at promoting superstars as the view is the team is always more important than the individual. That may work well on the ice, but if the league wants to continue growing among casual fans, it has to stop acting like it is a crime to be a crossover star.