Possible sign that the appeal to nationally showcase Chicago Blackhawks star Connor Bedard is ending

Connor Bedard is a star in the NHL, but the figurative glow on his star might be starting to dim.

The Chicago Blackhawks' phenom is still having an excellent season with 49 points. The hope coming into the season was he would have scored more than 16 goals at this point, and his talent would have evolved to where it elevated the Hawks out of the basement in the league's standings.

So far, the Hawks are only better than the San Jose Sharks in the standings. Even then, some feel the Sharks might have the better promising emerging superstar in Macklin Celebrini.

Bedard has also been criticized by NHL legend Mark Messier and the TNT pregame crew for various holes in his game.

Let's not forget Blackhawks legend Jeremy Roenick not being pleased with Bedard preferring to get ready to play in the Winter Classic rather than shake his hand before the NHL premiere regular season event.

Hey, we love to build stars up, only to knock them down.

Although, playing on an awful team with no teammates talented enough to skate with Bedard has also dimmed the glow on his star.

That is likely the case in ESPN's decision to pull the Blackhawks versus the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 8th.

When the schedule came out, ESPN was likely thinking it would get a ratings draw with another feature presentation of Bedard going up against his childhood hero, Sidney Crosby.

Both teams are in dead last in their respective divisions and there is even talk that the Penguins could be trading their legend before the deadline.

It makes sense to pull that late season matchup from the national TV schedule and go with two teams battling out for the top spot in the Atlantic Division.

Plus, if Matthew Tkachuk has returned from his injury by then, his current Q-rating is likely much higher than Bedard's based on his 4 Nations Face-Off performance.

Still, if this game was not running up against a potential showdown for the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference portion of the Stanley Cup playoffs, you have to wonder if ESPN would have pulled this game if Bedard was putting up bigger numbers and leading the Hawks to more wins.

However, you cannot blame Bedard for the team's lack of victories.

Some of his production issues happened because former head coach Luke Richardson asked Bedard to focus on his defensive game rather than continue to learn what he can get away with in the NHL and what moves he has to leave back in his junior-level days.

He started to produce more offense once Richardson was fired. He is in scoring lull coming off the 4 Nations break, but so is the entire offense as the Blackhawks have been outscored 12-4. It is a lot to ask a 19-year-old kid to raise the level of the entire offense despite the lofty expectations.

That is why the Blackhawks front office has to start adding better talent around him so his star can continue to shine.