After winning the Calder trophy last year as rookie of the year, it seems Bedard wants to be defensively responsible in his own end which will give the Blackhawks even better results. This characteristic shows his maturity his well beyond his years and that he understands there's more to the game than just having the puck on your stick.
Last season, he played 68 games, scoring 22 goals with 39 assists for 61 points but was a dreadful -44 in his plus minus. Granted, the entire team was devoid of talent as the Blackhawks are continuing through their rebuilding phase but it's a great sight to see that through seven games this year, he's only a - 1.
Throughout the decades, all the greats of the NHL who have been known to be NHL offensive scores have learned that defensive responsibility is just as important as offensive numbers. General manager Kyle Davidson hoped that adding several pieces to his roster on offence and defence would help the team improve dramatically in the standings.
The process has been slow, and the Blackhawks have struggled at times this year which gives the indication the team has a lot of work to do.
The Blackhawks will resume their schedule on Friday October 25th when Steven Stamkos, Jonathan Marchessault at the Nashville Predators arrive in the Windy City. Game time will be 8:30 PM eastern.
POLL | ||
Do you think Connor Bedard will be a balanced complete player offensively and defensively? | ||
Yes | 59 | 67.8 % |
No | 28 | 32.2 % |
List of polls |