Elliotte Friedman makes his thoughts extremely clear on Connor Bedard’s 'weird' 10-minute misconduct in back-to-back games

NHL insider Elliotte Friedman shared his perspective on Connor Bedard’s recent 10-minute misconduct penalties in two straight games. The Chicago Blackhawks rookie served 10 penalty minutes against the San Jose Sharks and another 14 penalty minutes against the Vancouver Canucks.

Friedman found the Vancouver penalty in particular strange. He noted that Bedard has struggled in both games against Vancouver this season. Late in the game, Bedard was caught in a five-on-two situation before getting the misconduct.

"Twice this year, Bedard goes to Vancouver and has tough nights. He's been given game or 10-minute misconduct and kicked out of the game. I didn't like watching that five-on-two at the end of regulation one, where he got the misconduct and kicked out of Vancouver," Friedman said on Monday on the 32 Thoughts podcast [36:47].

"I mean, I know it's been a hard a hard year in Chicago and losing stocks like I get all that - you can't have that - you can't have Bedard in a five on two like that," Friedman added.

The Blackhawks have struggled this season, with a record of 20-38-9 after the Vancouver loss. So, Bedard’s frustration is understandable given the team’s situation.

After the penalty, Bedard threw his helmet but later apologized. Friedman was impressed by his quick reaction.

"And actually was kind of impressed. Bedard threw his helmet, and then he went back and he apologized to the person he threw it at," Friedman said. "He's frustrated, like anything."

Connor Bedard is playing his second NHL season with the Chicago Blackhawks. He has 17 goals and 35 assists in 67 games this season, totaling 52 points. He has been playing over 20 minutes per game and leads the team in points.

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Elliotte Friedman said officials had warned Connor Bedard

On the same podcast, Elliotte Friedman said officials had warned Connor Bedard to stop talking during the San Jose game. When he continued, they gave him a misconduct. Referees may have been setting a boundary for the young player.

"I heard, I heard that in the first game, the San Jose game. He, you know, everybody said, he didn't say anything after the game. That was that bad. I looked into it, and I heard from a couple different people ... One was about the officials had told Bedard to stop talking, and he said some more stuff, and they just had it. I think that's what it was."

Bedard played fewer minutes than usual in both games. His season average is 20:18 minutes but he played under 19 minutes in these two games.

"And, you know, another player made an interesting point to me he said it could also be the fact he's still a young guy in the second year, and the referees will say, there's a limit to how much we're going to take," Friedman said.

"It's weird to see him get back-to-back 10-minute conducts. And, I understand his frustration."

Young players often get frustrated, especially on struggling teams. While Connor Bedard’s penalties were unexpected, he will likely learn from the experience.