Throughout the last 10 years, Chicago sports have been down in the dumps. The Bears are hard to watch, the White Sox and Cubs were extremely underwhelming this year, and the Bulls have been trying to rebuild for the last five years. At this point, our only saving grace could be the Blackhawks and our dreams came true this year when we received the first pick of the 2023 NHL draft. 

On Jun 28, 2023 Chicagoans received the news that the Blackhawks selected Connor Bedard, the 18-year-old phenom from Vancouver, Canada. Bedard has been a top prospect since his youth, and proved himself worthy of the number pick with the Regina Pats when he had 143 points (71 goals, 72 assists) his final season with the Pats. Now that Bedard has played a fair amount of games with the Blackhawks, fans are wondering if the kid is actually legit.

As of November 2, Bedard has played nine regular season games, has four goals and two assists. Some fans think that this is extremely underwhelming, and that Bedard was overhyped. Though yes, Bedard hasn’t had the hot start that we bñwere all hoping for, you have to remember that at the end of the day, he’s only 18. The fact that we will have him as an asset for the Blackhawks for at least the following decade is very assuring and he can only improve from here. Once he starts to get comfortable on the ice in front of large audiences, he is certain to excel in the league. 

Now, it’s up to the Blackhawks General Manager, Kyle Davidson, to take this opportunity and build on it. The Blackhawks are now in a full rebuild process, and it will take a couple of years to get the team back into shape. How fun would it be to have 2010-2015 happen again where the entire talk of the city is the Blackhawks. Maybe Bedard will be this generation’s Patrick Kane, or Jonathan Toews? Only time will tell, however if I had to put my money on who will be one of the most dominant players in the NHL the next decade, I’m putting millions on Bedard.