Superstar Chicago Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard has picked right up where he left off as he returns from a broken jaw that caused him to miss significant time.
On January 5, Bedard broke his jaw after he was hit by New Jersey Devils defenseman Brendan Smith. The injury interrupted Bedard's rookie campaign, and at the time he was on pace to cruise to a win of the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie.
Bedard had atmospheric expectations hoisted upon him to start this season, and he met them immediately as his dynamic skill set proved to immediately translate to the league.
The Blackhawks, being far from contention status and still deep in the midst of a total rebuild, immediately floundered in his absence. In 14 full games without Bedard, the Blackhawks scored just 20 goals.
Bedard returned on Thursday against Pittsburgh, and he has six points on the seven goals Chicago has scored in those games.
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Connor Bedard's Three-Point Night Against Carolina
Monday night in Carolina, this young Blackhawks team got the opportunity to test itself against a legitimate Stanley Cup contender.
While Bedard and linemate Philipp Kurashev were outstanding, the Blackhawks were outmatched on the other end of the ice as the Hurricanes romped to a 6-3 win.
The Hurricanes dominated both in terms of possession and goals, as they jumped out to a 5-1 lead. Bedard had an assist on Chicago's lone goal to that point, but the Blackhawks found a bit of life in the third thanks to special teams.
Chicago's power play has struggled all season long, ranking dead last in the league with a 13.1 percent conversion rate.
But against Carolina's third-ranked penalty kill, Chicago struck twice in the third period. Kurashev found Bedard for a tap-in goal on one man advantage, and Bedard hit Tyler Johnson for a goal on another.
This season isn't about winning for Chicago at this point, but for seeing exactly how dominant they can expect Bedard to be as they make decisions on how best to build around him.
Connor Bedard is Already a Star
At just 18 years of age, the Vancouver native has already established himself as a star in this league. Bedard was thrust into a brutal situation for production, with poor team infrastructure around him in terms of possessing the puck and little in the way of top-end talent to help drive his production.
He hasn't needed it. According to Natural Stat Trick, Bedard is 16th in the NHL in 5-on-5 goals scored per 60 minutes with 1.38. That puts him ahead of players who are lighting up the league this season like David Pastrnak, Nikita Kucherov, Sidney Crosby, Elias Petterson, Kyle Connor, Jake Guentzel and more.
Goal-scoring production at such an elite level doesn't really happen for rookies. In Connor McDavid's rookie season, he scored 1.13 5-on-5 goals per 60, and Auston Matthews scored 1.55 in his. Matthews was billed as a generational goal-scorer, but Bedard was projected to be more of an all-around offensive threat.
That he's so close to Matthews' rookie goal-scoring production in this environment is borderline stunning, and it feels already safe to say that Bedard is living up to his billing as a future phenom.
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