How Connor Bedard is diversifying his game to break out with the Blackhawks

Skeptics could easily write off Connor Bedard before the season, assuming he might never live up to his pre-draft expectations. They just hadn’t matched the on-ice results before this season.  

​But over the past couple of weeks, Bedard is showing that this is just the beginning of his NHL story. He’s just 20 years old, an age where most of his peers are still a year or so away from debuting in the NHL and where many stars break out.

His skills now seem to be emerging all at once.

​He’s maturing, finding chemistry with linemates, and his production is surging, carrying him up the NHL scoring leaderboard. The high he’s riding likely won’t last for the entire season — that’s what the underlying percentages are telling us — but it’s a welcome reminder of why he was such an exciting prospect for