Second-year centre Connor Bedard has had a tough week with the Chicago Blackhawks. Bedard was given his second misconduct penalty in a row in the Blackhawks’ 6-2 loss to the Vancouver Canucks on Saturday. (Bedard was given a penalty two nights before in Chicago’s 4-2 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday.)
The Blackhawks as a team are bad this season. They enter Tuesday night’s matchup against the Seattle Kraken with a 20-38-9 record. Chicago’s 49 points are the second-worst in the league.
While the team surrounding Bedard isn’t good, the 19-year-old is regressing in his second season in the NHL. His face-off win percentage is at 37.2%, down from 38.9% last season. Through 67 games played this season, he has 17 goals and 52 total points. Bedard finished with 22 goals and 61 points through all 68 games he played in 2023-24.
Chicago Blackhawks fans want a Connor Bedard trade?
Following Bedard’s antics last week, enough Blackhawks fans emailed the Chicago Tribune‘s Phil Thompson to prompt the beat writer to respond and legitimize the idea of the team actually shopping Bedard after a disappointing beginning to his career.
Thompson argued that while Bedard isn’t playing like the talent Chicago thought they were receiving in 2023, they can’t make a trade because no one can replace Bedard–who is tied for the most points on the team with 52.
“For context, the last couple of Hawks games haven’t been pretty, though you could say that about a lot of games this season,” Thompson wrote. “Bedard finished the last two games with 10-minute misconduct penalties, and he has looked short of the phenom his talent promised to be.
“But let’s break this down.
1. Bedard is having a minor rough patch, nothing that warrants doing anything crazy like trading the franchise (though there are plenty of Vancouver Canucks fans who’d be more than happy to hear you out).
And who’s going to replace him?
Bedard is still the engine that drives the offense and draws the most attention from defenses, even if other players have been putting up the statistics lately. When the Hawks acquire more legitimate offensive threats, likely through the free agent market or trade, then it’ll be fair to scrutinize how he performs next to better talent.”
The Blackhawks need to try a few things before making a trade
CCS suggested potential trades for the Blackhawks for the No. 1 pick before they selected Bedard. Most fans thought the idea was silly, as the 5-foot-10, 185-pound centre was thought to be the second coming of the six-foot-two, 194-pound centre, Connor McDavid.
Now some fans have buyer’s remorse.
At this time, the Blackhawks have no reason to part with the budding sharpshooter. Though they should consider making him a winger before trying to trade him away.
The front office needs to give Bedard more support to ease the pressure on No. 98 before they fail him like another team in Chicago has done to quarterbacks in recent history.
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