The Chicago Blackhawks' Connor Bedard warms up before a game against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre in Montreal on Oct. 14. Bedard had an outstanding pre-season and has a point in each regular-season outing so far.Eric Bolte/USA TODAY Sports
Fans jockeyed for position at the Ford Performance Centre as they tried to peek through a window at the sheet of ice where Connor Bedard skated on Sunday. His Chicago teammates were there, too, but no necks were being craned to see Boris Katchouk or Taylor Raddysh.
The 18-year-old has played all of three NHL games but has already achieved the status reserved for the sport’s biggest stars such as Sidney Crosby and that other Connor fellow out in Edmonton. You really know you’ve made it when the opposing team’s fans boo every time you touch the puck, as happened to Bedard in Montreal on Saturday.
“I thought it was great,” Bedard said after he completed preparations for Monday’s game against the Maple Leafs at their practice facility in west-end Toronto. “You never know what you are going to get. It was a lot of fun for me.”
Bedard has a shiny teenaged face and a Canadian boy’s charm and is embracing the spotlight placed on him as the game’s next can’t-miss prospect. He was the first player chosen in the summer draft, had an outstanding pre-season and has a point in each regular-season outing so far – assist, goal, assist – after a celebrated junior career.
He is certainly the face of a franchise that hopes for better days, which is a lot to throw on a fellow young enough to be your daughter’s date to the senior prom. He has now been interviewed before, after and during games and hasn’t missed a beat.
At practice on Sunday, he was the last player off the ice.
“It is very impressive to see how he handles everything,” said Ryan Donato, Chicago’s 27-year-old centre. “The attention he is getting is unlike anything I have ever seen.”
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The Blackhawks are 1-2 as they enter the engagement in Toronto against an Original Six rival that is unbeaten after two games.
“I am looking forward to it,” Bedard said. “There are guys here that I have watched and idolized for a long time. I am very excited. I am living out a dream.”
Bedard is fulfilling a promise that was recognized in his youth in North Vancouver. As a 15-year-old, he was given special permission to play for the Regina Pats in the WHL. In his third season with them, he had 71 goals and 72 assists in 57 games.
The past two years, he helped Canada win consecutive world junior championships.
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Sheldon Keefe, the Maple Leafs coach, said he did not know much about Bedard before he came into the league.
“The hype, which is well deserved, was largely focused on his shot and ability to score but I’d say his game is far more dynamic than I thought at first impression,” Keefe said. “He makes a lot of plays and drives offence despite being inexperienced.
“Clearly there is a lot there for us to be focused on and concerned about going into the game.”
Taylor Hall was selected first overall by the Oilers in 2010 and was on the team when Connor McDavid made his much-ballyhooed debut in 2015.
“There are a lot more eyes on him than when I came into the league,” said Hall, a left wing for Chicago. “When I look back, Edmonton is crazy for hockey but not on the same scale as Chicago.
“But Connor understands his role and his place and is handling it so well.”
Bedard is nearly still a kid himself but he recognized how many fans – mostly teens – showed up on Sunday in hope of getting a glimpse of him.
“I remember being a kid and the guys that I idolized,” Bedard said. “I am really lucky to be in the position that I am to have an impact on kids and I don’t take that very lightly.”