Connor Bedard one of many Blackhawks to step up this season

The Chicago Blackhawks have gotten everything they dreamed of and more this season from 2023 first overall pick Connor Bedard.

Bedard has lived up to the hype he generated as an offensive juggernaut throughout his junior career this season, as he’s racked up 44 points his 31 games of action this season.

While Bedard had the Blackhawks firmly in playoff position, the team struggled mightily at first after he got hurt on December 12, falling out of the playoff picture. Since that cold stretch, his teammates have picked up the slack, as Chicago has rattled off a 5-1-1 stretch since the holiday break to re-establish themselves.

On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed how Bedard is not alone among the members of his team who have taken their games to the next level this season.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Chicago, a team that, I think it’d be fair to call them a year early, right? I think a lot of people kind of thought it was going to be another bottom five sort of year. Connor Bedard steps up, starts to look like an MVP candidate for the first chunk of the season. He gets hurt; their season falls off the rails… Chicago, we’re a little higher on because of just how they’re performing based on expectations.

Carter Hutton: I think they’re still not ready yet. I think there’s going to be meaningful games that’s going to be important. I just don’t think there’s pressure yet on coaches. I don’t think there’s pressure on general managers that if they finish 9th or 10th and just miss the playoffs, I still think you can check a box of taking a step in the right direction… And there’s been a lot of great stories. Spencer Knight’s obviously been awesome. Tyler Bertuzzi with 22 goals, he was a guy that couldn’t find a home at points, and now he seems like a staple in that lineup.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…