During his second-ever Blackhawks preseason shift Thursday, Connor Bedard gathered the puck, sliced between two Blues, glided into the offensive zone, deked around a third and wristed a shot on net.
The shot didn’t go in, as the fairytale version of the story would’ve dictated. But the three Blues involved were not random grinders but rather Robert Thomas, Pavel Buchnevich and Jake Neighbours — three legit top-six NHL forwards. And Bedard already seemed, at least on that play, to be thinking the game on a higher level than them.
Of course, Bedard got his points later, albeit not a goal, assisting on both Hawks tallies in a 2-1 overtime win. He tipped a shot on goal in the second period before Philipp Kurashev scored on the rebound, then hit a streaking Andreas Athanasiou for the winner.
The 18-year-old center talked to his dad before morning skate and told him, “I get to play in the United Center tonight. That’s pretty unreal. That’s big.”
The UC atmosphere contained nowhere near the amount of energy it will on Oct. 21 for Bedard’s regular-season home debut, but all the fans who filled the 100 and 200 levels Thursday were nonetheless present to see him and him exclusively.
Bedard said he was pleased with his adherence to the defensive system and his performance in the faceoff dot — where he won 10 of 16 draws, mostly against Thomas. But he was hardly thrilled with his play overall.
“I don’t think I personally played great,” he said. “I’ve got a lot better than that from myself hopefully coming forward, but it was a good start.”
He also tallied nine shot attempts, including five on goal, and a 70.3% expected-goals ratio during five-on-five play in 21:20 of total ice time.
The weirdest moment of the night, meanwhile might’ve been an ovation for Corey Perry after he fought Blues defenseman Hunter Skinner to avenge a big hit on Hawks second-round pick Martin Misiak.
A few more instances of Perry standing up for teammates in that way — and there will be more than a few such instances — might be all it takes for the longtime Hawks nemesis to completely win over the fan base.
Misiak and fellow prospects Alex Pharand and Nick Lardis were reassigned to their junior teams after the game, trimming the Hawks’ camp roster to 51.
Jones watches Bedard
Seth Jones quarterbacked the Hawks’ top power-play unit with Bedard on his left flank, Corey Perry in front of the net, Ryan Donato in the middle bumper role and Taylor Hall on the right flank. The group didn’t exactly look sharp, but that rust shouldn’t be too concerning yet.
To prepare for working with Bedard, Jones said he rewatched film over the summer of all of Bedard’s goals in junior hockey last season, getting a better sense of his tendencies.
“It took me a while,” Jones joked. “It was a 20-minute video or something like that. But it was nice to see where he likes the puck.”
Blackwell still sidelined
Depth forward Colin Blackwell hasn’t yet appeared at training camp, and coach Luke Richardson clarified Wednesday that Blackwell is sidelined due to lingering discomfort from his sports hernia last season.
Blackwell, 30, last played Feb. 27 and underwent hernia surgery March 22, with an expected recovery time of 12 weeks. That estimate suggested he could resume hockey activities around mid-June, but during pre-camp player-organized skates later this summer, he still didn’t feel right, Richardson said.
“We know what he is,” Richardson added. “What we need to do is just make sure that he’s 100% when he does come back. It’s just being smart. We have 50-something players here; we don’t need him pushing through.”
Blackwell is coming off a disappointing first Hawks season in which he tallied only 10 points in 53 games — down from 20-plus points the previous two years — and also struggled defensively. It might be tough to find a spot for him in the lineup even once he returns.
