Connor Bedard Is Going to Be A...

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Chicago Blackhawk. Over the past year, I have made it a mission of mine to learn as much as I can about hockey and one of those big storylines has been the Connor Bedard sweepstakes. The question wasn’t if he will go number one. Instead, it was where will he go to at number one? That is no longer a debate and he will be heading to Chicago to at least start his highly anticipated career.

Now, I can’t tell you the minor details of what make him so good, so I will just have to believe what I hear for the most part, but what I’ve seen is an electric player that knows how to generate offense. At this point, I will just have to compare him to other sports. When I think of a game-changing prospect, I think of guys like LeBron James, Ken Griffey Jr., Connor McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Bryce Harper, and John Elway. These were all guys that were going to undoubtedly be the number one pick in their respective sports, were can't-miss prospects, and carved out great careers and some are still doing so to this day. Bedard will join these men very soon.

After watching my first NHL Draft Lottery, I kinda don’t like that some teams don’t have a shot at getting the number one pick. I get that they want to prevent tanking and stuff like that, but I really like what they have done with the NBA Lottery recently. It gives a better shot for more teams and even the teams that just missed out won the playoffs have a slim chance of winning the lottery. I think there should be more opportunities for teams to jump each other in the NHL Lottery, but I don’t want to talk about the lottery itself, let’s talk about Bedard.

Chicago Blackhawks

Despite being seen in a similar light as McDavid, Crosby, Gretzky, Lemieux, etc. I don’t think the spotlight and pressure will affect Bedard’s immediate impact with the Blackhawks. He should immediately contribute to the team and be the cornerstone of their franchise. Blackhawks fans are fired up after getting the first pick and it was reported that the Blackhawks sold $2.5 million worth of season tickets overnight. I know Garett is excited to see him on his favorite team and I would be too. Drafting a can't-miss prospect doesn’t happen every year and if you can get a generational talent like Bedard, you’re pretty much set for at least the next few years. Not that Chicago needs to attract any more attention, but it does make free agents want to sign there when you have a guy on the ice that can do no wrong. It will be interesting to see Bedard keep progressing and see how his career goes in Chicago.

Yacs