Connor Bedard will get his first taste of pre-season action when the top pick in the 2023 NHL Draft takes to the ice for the Chicago Blackhawks against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.
Bedard is expected to skate on a line with Taylor Hall and Ryan Donato.
“Yeah, I can’t wait,” Bedard told NHL.com when asked about his pre-season debut. “I think I’ve said this the whole time: I just want to play hockey. That’s what you want. You train so hard throughout the summer and every day, which is great, and you want to see where that gets you in the game.”
It will also be Bedard’s first appearance at the United Center.
Bedard turned heads at the Tom Kurvers Prospect Showcase when he scored a hat trick and added an assist.
The highly touted prospect led the WHL with 71 goals and 143 points in 57 regular-season games, making him the undisputed first pick in the draft. He is now looking to be the key piece in the Blackhawks’ rebuild.
Head coach Luke Richardson paired Bedard with Hall after Chicago acquired the former first-overall pick from the Boston Bruins this off-season and has liked what he’s seen from the duo so far.
“I saw some good chemistry out there, especially him and Hall,” Richardson told NHL.com.
“I think if there’s a bit of a turnover or something like that, they feel that and one of them will take off, the other one gets the puck and they almost broke free a couple of times in the first half. That was good to see, and I expect probably more of that and excited to see it in a real game.”
For Bedard, a veteran like Hall is an ideal linemate to learn from, considering he has gone through a similar experience of being a highly touted prospect. The 18-year-old noted that the communication between him and Hall has been crucial in his first NHL training camp.
“We’ve talked about it a bit, just areas we’d like to be and whatnot,” Bedard explained. “He’s a special player and he’s been doing it in the league for a long time now. Just trying to read off him and take advice from him, watch him play and I can learn a lot of things.”
