If Justin Fields is the greatest thing ever, it makes you wonder what Chicago is going to do with Connor Bedard, whose future superstardom seems based on actual facts and not crossed fingers.
That’s no shot at Fields, who couldn’t have known when the Bears made him their first-round pick in 2021 that he would be hugged to within an inch of his life by fans and media alike. It’s an acknowledgement that Bedard, whom the Blackhawks will take with the first overall pick in the June 28-29 draft, apparently has the kind of unique talent that can lead to multiple Stanley Cups and mass hysteria.
My concern is that, with the coronation of King Charles III still fresh in our minds, we’ll crown, robe and scepter Bedard when he first touches down at O’Hare, then explore the possibility of formally investing him as the supreme head of the Church of Chicago.
Is it possible to give Bedard a break, to let him grow at his own pace, to put a hold on the massive expectations that are being loaded up right now for delivery to his shoulders? I didn’t think so.
I’m fighting a losing battle here. When a player is described as “generational” in every story written about him, as Bedard is, you know that any chance the kid has of a quiet meal at a restaurant is gone. It evokes the mania over John Elway’s first training camp with the Broncos, when the Denver Post reported that the rookie quarterback had eaten fried chicken and green peas for lunch the day before. The Post’s competitor, the Rocky Mountain News, reported that Elway had eaten green beans, not green peas. You hated to see Woodward and Bernstein fighting like that.
Any chance the Blackhawks can give us a peek now at the rookie camp meal menu?
Hawks season tickets are selling at a brisk rate, thanks entirely to the expectation of Bedard joining the team. It’s stunning how quickly the mood in town has gone from sad, thanks to the end of the Patrick Kane-Jonathan Toews era, to euphoric, thanks to a 17-year-old center with a powerful slap shot evidently bestowed upon him by the god of war.
Bedard is so good that some hockey fans are sure the fix was in for Monday’s draft lottery, arguing that the NHL wanted the wunderkind in Chicago, a major market. Believing in draft conspiracy theories is the last refuge of the sore loser. What’s noteworthy here is that conspiracy theories do not arise over average players. True believers head to the woods to find Bigfoot, not a creature with size-10s.
Bedard has been filling large shoes since he was child. He was the first player to be allowed in the Western Hockey League at 15, a year earlier than league rules stipulate. At every level, he has been exceptional. He amassed 23 points in seven games at the World Junior Championship earlier this year, leading Canada to the title.
In general, hockey people are reserved, not wanting to be seen as flamboyant, flashy or conspicuous. But even they couldn’t keep quiet in the face of Bedard’s excellence.
“I skated with Connor Bedard (last) summer and I was with some of the best in the NHL, and he was the guy that stuck out to me,” Kane told NHL.com in December. “I think the hype is real. I think he’s going to be an amazing player.”
“It’s well worth tanking to get him because he has incredible talent, boasts NHL superstar qualities right now and has the chance to turn a franchise around,” scout Mark Seidel told the Toronto Star in August.
This is why Hawks fans are so excited, why they’re buying so many season tickets and why they might need to be stopped from trampling the kid in their enthusiasm. The only thing separating him from being hyped to death is that this is hockey, which doesn’t get nearly the attention in town as football does. It’s probably a good thing that Fields didn’t arrive in Chicago with the set of skills Bedard has. If he had, he would have been carried away on the shoulders of fans and media to Xanadu, then never seen again.
For Bedard’s sake, I hope clear-thinking people will understand that he won’t be able to immediately turn around a team that finished 26-49-7 last season. I hope the moments he figures to give them will be enough, for the time being.
Hawks fans should consider themselves fortunate that the franchise didn’t make them go through a long, painful rebuild. This rebuild was more like appendicitis. A stabbing pain, then surgery, then a get-well-soon card in the form of a great, young hockey player.
Try not to slobber on the card.
