Bedard has taken ‘massive step forward’ this season, Blackhawks GM says

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Kyle Davidson quickly understood the premise of the question about Connor Bedard, the concept of analyzing his accomplishments as an NHL player at 20 years old in his third season versus what he was as a teenager in his first and second seasons.

"I think what you've hit on there is don't judge too soon," the Chicago Blackhawks general manager told NHL.com from the NHL Board of Governors meeting at The Broadmoor on Monday. "Welcome to my world the last couple of years."

Bedard, the Blackhawks center, is on track to score 50 goals, five more than he had in his first two NHL seasons combined. He has 18 in 29 games.

He's on pace for 113 points; he had 128 in 150 games across his teenage seasons. He has 40 so far this season.

Entering Monday, Bedard is fourth in the NHL in scoring and tied for third in goals. He's also plus-6; he was a minus-80 in his first 150 games; minus-36 last season and a minus-44 as a rookie in 2023-24.

The Blackhawks are 12-11-6, on the plus side of .500 in points percentage (.517) entering their game against the New York Rangers at United Center on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET: HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, TVAS).

They had 48 wins and a .345 points percentage in Bedard's first two seasons.

"You go to a game and you want to know the answers," Davidson said. "You want to know what are they going to be and when are they going to be that and how good are they going to be. And you want all the answers based on a couple games or a couple months. That's just not the reality of development of young professionals, young men. It just isn't. So you have to be patient with it and with Connor in particular through part of that development is understanding the League and understanding and educating yourself on the grind, what you need to improve on, what you need to do to navigate a season like it is in the NHL. Those are things that he learned, and he learned some things he wanted to improve in his game."

Bedard did that this past summer, choosing to work on himself and the areas he had to focus on, most importantly skating, instead of extending his season by playing for Canada in the IIHF World Championship.

"The thing we always knew about Connor long before he was a Blackhawk is he's going to do everything he can to maximize his potential," Davidson said. "He's going to work as hard as he can to make sure that he's putting himself in the best situation to succeed. I believe that's just what he's done through understanding things that he needs to improve on. He did that this offseason. It was a massive step forward for him. It's something we believed was there, he just needed the time and some of the information to effectuate that change."

That change has also inspired Bedard's leadership qualities, providing him with a greater sense of his responsibility to the Blackhawks and the role he plays as the star of the team and the face of the franchise.

Davidson said part of that evolution of Bedard can be credited to the natural maturation process.

"He's 20 and young men change a lot," Davidson said. "They grow into their personalities, into their situations. He was certainly thrust into a unique one and the more comfortable you get around the League you're naturally going to be more comfortable and able to take more leadership onto your own shoulders. We've certainly seen that growth in him certainly over the years, but definitely coming into this season the comfort that he has around the building, around different buildings, in the different environments we enter. So, that's been great."

Davidson also said he thinks the makeup of the Chicago roster this season compared to his first two seasons has played a major role in Bedard's growth.

Two seasons ago, when Bedard was an 18-year-old rookie, the only regulars on the Blackhawks who were within five years of his age were Kevin Korchinski (19), Lukas Reichel (21), Alex Vlasic (22) and Philipp Kurashev (23).

This season, the Blackhawks have seven players playing regularly who were born in 2003, 2004 or 2005. Bedard is now the second-youngest player on the team, more than three months older than defenseman Artyom Levshunov.

Four of Chicago's top-six forwards are 22 or younger (Ryan Greene, 22; Frank Nazar, 21; Oliver Moore, 20; Bedard, 20).

"It's a lot different being 18 and 19 in a room full of 30- to 35-year-olds versus being 20 in a room full of 20- to 24-year-olds," Davidson said. "That's been a massive change for our group, and I believe that's also factored into some of the comfort that we've seen in him and some of the other younger players."

It has all led to Bedard potentially getting a chance to play on the big stage in the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026.

He's not a lock for Team Canada, but his name and accomplishments this season certainly have to be high on the list of talking points for general manager Doug Armstrong and the Hockey Canada management staff that is meeting this week in Florida to discuss the roster construction.

The deadline for each national federation to submit its Olympic rosters is Dec. 31.

"He's obviously done a considerable amount of development to make that team," Davidson said of Bedard. "It would be great for him. I want him to make that team. There's a lot of smart people that are picking that team so I'll leave them to that, but if he were to make that team, I think it'll be fantastic for him.

“Any recognition like that is great for a person, it does a lot for someone's confidence, not that he needs a confidence boost. It looks like he's brimming with it now, but that feather in your cap and the ability to play in those types of games can only help."