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The five best moments of 2023 for the Chicago Blackhawks

Three of them involve Connor Bedard.

By Todd Welter |
/ Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
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2023 had some highs, but a lot of lows for the Chicago Blackhawks.

We will address the high points in a moment. The low points were clear. The Hawks were and still are one of the worst teams in the NHL. A lot of that is by design as the team needed to be ripped down to the studs. Thankfully, tearing down the roster has been completed.

Now comes the hard part--building the roster back up.

That is going to take more than one year. It will probably take two or three more offseasons before the Chicago Blackhawks are ready to contend for the Stanley Cup.

That does not mean there were not any good parts to 2023, with five moments worth pointing out as the high points of this concluding year (in chronological order).

Patrick Kane scored two goals to rally the Blackhawks to victory in his final game with the team.

/ Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Kane finally decided he had enough of a rebuild and requested to be traded before the deadline. Before he left the team where he became a legend, he had one last memorable performance at Dallas.

The Hawks were down by three goals early against the Stars when Kaner and Seth Jones set up Max Domi for the team's first goal of the game. Domi returned the favor a few minutes later in the second period to set up Kane for his first goal of the game.

Kane then tied it up at three late in the second period. Two goals and an assist in a victory were a nice way to go out for the greatest Chicago Blackhawk ever. Domi added the cherry on top when he scored the game-winner.

Kane was traded a few days later to the New York Rangers. It would have been nice for Kane to have stayed, but it was time to close that chapter.

Jonathan Toews scores a goal in his final game with the Chicago Blackhawks.

/ David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Toews was the captain of three Stanley Cup-winning teams. He was the first Hawks captain to hoist the Stanley Cup in 49 years when the team won the first of those three cups in 2010. Toews will go down as the team's greatest captain. You can argue he might be ahead or below Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita as the second-greatest Blackhawk ever.

Much like Kane, it was time to move on from Toews. Injuries and decline in performance necessitated it. Toews' health issues with long-COVID required him to miss all of the 2020-21 season and the last portion of the 2022-23 season.

The Hawks announced before last season ended that they would not bring back Toews for this season as he was set for free agency.

Toews was able to make it back for the final game of the season which happened to be at the United Center. He gave us all one more memory when he scored a power-play goal in the second period.

Toews is taking this season off before deciding on whether he will return to the NHL or officially retire.

The Chicago Blackhawks won the NHL Draft Lottery and drafted Connor Bedard No. 1 overall.

The tank paid off as the Hawks won the NHL Draft Lottery and the right to draft hockey phenom Connor Bedard. He has been everything as advertised.

The most important thing about drafting Bedard is it gives the Hawks a legitimate superstar to build the next great team around. Oh, and the Hawks had a pretty good 2023 draft too. They took Oliver Moore with their other first-round pick. He is a skilled speedster who could team up with Bedard down the road to form a tremendous scoring duo. Goalie Adam Gajan was taken in the second round, and he is having an outstanding World Juniors.

May 8, 2023 (the day the Hawks won the lottery) and June 23, 2023 (the day they officially drafted him) will go down as the two biggest dates in team history.

Connor's days of firsts

He did not disappoint in his NHL debut against the Pittsburgh Penguins and his hero Sidney Crosby. The game was hyped up by ESPN and it got the general masses intrigued to turn on a hockey game. That shows you the type of draw Bedard is. He is a generational talent that the NHL is hoping will grow the game.

He got his first point in that game with an assist in a 4-2 victory. A day later he scored his first NHL goal against the Boston Bruins.

It would also be a preview of the season where on most nights the team needs Bedard to score just to generate some offense.

Bedard's Michigan goal

Bedard provided one of the most amazing goals against the St. Louis Blues. It is a goal that even Wayne Gretzky said he could never do.

Call it a Michigan goal, call it a lacrosse goal, just call it amazing.

It is a goal that will forever be on his highlight reel. Hopefully, he keeps providing many more outstanding goals in 2024 and beyond.

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