Last season, Connor Bedard was the NHL’s rookie of the year. This season, he is one of the league’s most frustrated stars.
Bedard, 19, has three goals and 12 assists in 20 games for the Chicago Blackhawks, who are tied for the worst points percentage in the NHL (.375). Heading into Saturday’s matchup at the Philadelphia Flyers, Bedard has gone 11 straight games without a goal.
“I could name 100 things [I could do better],” Bedard said Friday. “I don’t know, man. It has been frustrating, for sure. I just don’t feel like I’m really doing anything. So just keep chipping away at it, I guess, and hopefully find my game again.”
While his point production hasn’t fallen off drastically from his 61 points in 68 games last season — good enough to win the Calder Trophy — his goal-scoring pace has been cut in half. Bedard had 22 goals last season.
“It’s been a tough stretch,” he said. “You just feel like you don’t have it or whatever, and you lose a bit of confidence. And it just kind of goes on.”
Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson recently moved Bedard to a line with forwards Jason Dickinson and Joey Anderson, as the young center was shifted to the wing. That paid dividends against the Anaheim Ducks on Tuesday, with Bedard assisting on two Dickinson goals.
The three went scoreless in Chicago’s win over the Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers on Thursday, however. They were dominated by center Aleksander Barkov‘s line, getting outshot 8-0 with a 16-2 disadvantage in attempts, but didn’t surrender a goal to Florida’s top line.
“We didn’t bring him here to be a checker,” Richardson said. “But just the way our team has a lack of scoring, we’re hunkering down on the defensive side until we get a little more confidence offensively back.”
Bedard’s take on his new role: If nothing else is working, why not try this?
“I’m not doing much offensively at all, so I’ve got to find a different way to be productive,” he said. “That was obviously different for me, but it’s good to do that. It’s good playing with those two guys. You learn a lot in that end. It’s a lot less work than at center. It’s just about positioning and knowing where to be.”
Bedard hasn’t talked about a lack of confidence much since he was drafted first overall by the Blackhawks in 2023. Richardson said Bedard addressed the issue of confidence because it’s “running through our team rapidly right now. … When you see it once, then that’s kind of the word that’s in your mind to use in an interview.”
Whatever one calls it, Bedard hopes to get back on his game as the 2024-25 NHL season reaches its quarter mark.
“Just keep going in every game,” he said. “Trying to be the best me.”
