“He is elite,” Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno said of Bedard. “He's understanding and becoming that player. All the while, he's doing things on the other side of the puck, too.
“I was thrilled for him. Everyone remembers, well, some guys are lucky enough to get their first hat trick. When you do, it's an awesome feeling. I was pumped for him. He's a guy that, not likes, but loves to score goals. You could see on his face how pumped up he was. If we get that Connor Bedard every night, it's going to be fun.”
Chicago has gotten that Bedard often through the first 10 games. He hasn’t gone more than one game without a point. On Tuesday, he had his third four-point game in the NHL, tying Roenick for the third-most by a Blackhawks player before the age of 21. Only Bobby Hull (five) and Denis Savard (four) had more. Bedard also had three assists in an 8-3 win at the St. Louis Blues on Oct. 15.
Bedard seems happier, lighter in his third NHL season and it’s showing in his play. So is this the most fun he has had in his time in Chicago?
“Personally, coming into the year, maybe a little better mindset and just knowing the League and being a little more relaxed,” he said. “It’s easy to say that after a hat trick and a win, but our group is super motivated and loves each other, and it's been a lot of fun so far. We just want to keep building that and keep having a good product on the ice.”
The Blackhawks getting better results certainly helps; last season, if they made a mistake, it snowballed into more mistakes, more opposing goals, more frustration. So far this season, they're keeping their composure and finding solutions.
And they’re getting great individual performances all around, led by Bedard.
“I’ve said this already this year, (Connor) wants to win more than he wants to score, he wants to win more than he wants the points, he wants to win," Chicago coach Jeff Blashill said. "I would say that’s true with the rest of the group in the locker room. They want to win. They don’t want to be scorers on bad teams.
“It’s nice to see Connor have an offensive night like tonight, to get rewarded for the good two-way play that he’s had, because what I don’t want is not get rewarded, then all of a sudden you start cheating for your offense. That’ll equal not winning. He’s done it the right way, good for him. It’s been great.”
Bedard making Canada’s Olympic team won’t be easy, even given what he’s doing. Those decisions come later and are out of his hands.
“I mean, it's Canada, there's so many amazing players, you never know,” he said. “I've just got to keep doing what I'm doing. I'm focused on the Hawks. That stuff comes later down the line.”
