Connor Bedard gets brutally honest about joining Blackhawks during their rebuild

On Thursday, Connor Bedard spoke with CHSN analyst Tony Granato about the challenges of joining the rebuilding Chicago Blackhawks. The team was eliminated from the playoffs after a 3-1 loss to the Los Angeles Kings. However, they are still trying to become contenders, as in the Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews era, when the team won three Stanley Cups in 2010, 2013 and 2015.

"I think you have to realize it’s a process," Bedard said. "But when we go out there, we expect to win. So yeah, it’s frustrating when we’re not, but when you step back and look at the bigger picture, especially this year, you see a lot of younger guys coming up, making an impact, and building relationships. You start to see what we’re working toward."

The Blackhawks have a 20-40-9 record and sit last in the Central Division. Their defense has struggled, allowing 3.54 goals per game. However, their power play has been strong, ranking eighth in the League.

So, now the Blackhawks are focusing on developing young players. Connor Bedard believes this will help the team in the future.

"Right now, we’re not where we want to be in the standings, but if we keep growing—if our 19, 20, 21-year-olds learn how to play the right way now—when we’re 24, 25, we’ll be that much better and can really compete," Bedard said.

"That doesn’t mean we don’t expect to compete next year or the year after. We always go out there expecting to win. But if we can learn as much as possible in these first few years, it’s only going to make us stronger down the road."

As a group, the Blackhawks and Bedard will be having fun while trying to learn in the upcoming games, knowing that their playoff hopes are lost.

Connor Bedard talked about his relationship with Blackhawks GM and his focus on improvement

Connor Bedard has a strong relationship with Chicago Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson. He was the one to take Bedard with the first overall pick in the 2023 NHL draft.

"Yeah, we have a good relationship," Bedard said, via NHL.com. "It's cool. He's a younger GM (36) and we're a younger team. We have a lot of guys coming in basically the same time as him. He's really easy to talk to and I think we're all trying to grow together and take those next steps, and having that relationship is important."

Bedard leads the team with 54 points (19 goals, 35 assists) in 69 games. He scored a power-play goal in Thursday's 3-1 loss to the Kings. It was his second straight game with a goal. He is seven points away from matching last season's 61 points.

"Up to this point I feel I've had a couple little, like, 12-15 game stretches where if you look at points ... as a guy who's supposed to produce, those stretches are what I need to get rid of," Bedard said. "The rest of the year's been pretty good, I feel like. I have a lot of areas I can improve."

Davidson will interview candidates for the head coach role after firing Luke Richardson in December.