Connor Bedard Ushers In Chicago Blackhawks’ Next Era At 2023 NHL Draft

The 2023 NHL Draft is being heralded as one of the deepest talent pools in decades.

So when all was said and done, perhaps it’s no surprise that not a single trade was consummated in Nashville during Wednesday’s first round.

The Chicago Blackhawks — clearly — were not going to be presented with a package that would tempt them to part with their draft lottery prize, Connor Bedard.

The Regina Pats’ center didn’t just follow through on the consensus No. 1 status that he has carried since he entered the Western Hockey League at age 15. He has somehow managed to increase his draft stock in the two-and-a-half months since the last time he played a game, when the Pats were eliminated in Game 7 of their first-round playoff series against the Saskatoon Blades — a series where he had 20 points in seven games.

Bedard made history earlier this month by becoming the first player ever to win the Canadian Hockey League’s player of the year, top scorer and prospect of the year awards. He won the IIHF’s brand-new male player of the year award, beating out established pros from across the hockey world. And while making the media rounds ahead of the draft, he displayed humility, wit and perspective that has impressed everyone who crossed his path.

Bedard, who turns 18 in mid-July, has an elite, well-rounded skillset and competitive nature that bodes well for a quick transition to the NHL. He also has a been-there, done-that temperament that has served him well in hockey-mad Western Canada and should translate well to the big stage.

For the Blackhawks, Bedard’s impact has already been felt. An elite team that won three Stanley Cups between 2010 and 2015, the organization has just said goodbye to its two most important recent franchise cornerstones, Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, and is embarking on a new era after five playoff misses in the last six years and an organizational scandal in 2021 involving sexual misconduct against former first-round draft pick Kyle Beach a decade earlier by a team video coach, which led to the departure of then-general manager Stan Bowman.

While the NHL officially discourages teams from deliberately losing in order to secure better draft-lottery odds, current Blackhawks GM Kyle Davidson aggressively stripped down his roster over the last year. At the 2022 draft, he dealt away key talents like Alex DeBrincat and Kirby Dach, and moved Kane to the New York Rangers ahead of the 2023 trade deadline.

Chicago finished 30th overall, one point ahead of the last-place Anaheim Ducks. When they secured that vaunted first-overall pick back in May, the Blackhawks reportedly sold $5.2 million in new season tickets in the first 12 hours — an impressive immediate return on investment for a player whose maximum league compensation for his first three NHL seasons is capped a total of $4.54 million including salary and bonuses.

Ancillary income, of course, is another thing altogether. On Tuesday, Bedard announced a new ambassadorship with Lululemon, also based in his hometown of Vancouver. It should be one of many partnerships to be unveiled in the coming weeks and months for a talented and marketable future star.

And while Bedard never lost grip on his status as the consensus No. 1 pick, his selection does fly against the 2022 draft year, when projected first-overall pick Shane Wright slipped all the way to the Seattle Kraken at No. 4.

This year, the upheaval began with the second pick, when the Anaheim Ducks bypassed Hobey Baker Award winner Adam Fantilli from the University of Michigan in favor of Leo Carlsson — a Swedish center who raised his draft stock while playing for his country against men at the 2023 IIHF World Championship in May.

Fantilli, who won gold with Canada at the World Championship as well as with Bedard at the 2023 world junior tournament midway through the season, fell to the Columbus Blue Jackets at No. 3.

Once the first round was completed, the Western Hockey League led the way with six players, including Bedard at No. 1. That’s not a record —t hey put 10 first-rounders into the draft in both 1982 and 1975. But it matches the 2022 draft, and the WHL has had at least five first-round picks selected in 14 of the last 16 years.

Also strong this year: the Swedes, with six first-rounders headlined by Carlsson, after they claimed the silver medal at the World U18 championship. The U.S. National Team Development Program also put six players into the first round, headlined by center Will Smith at No. 4 to the San Jose Sharks. And despite Russia and Belarus being excluded from IIHF competition since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine early in 2022, four Russians were also chosen in Round 1.

Defenseman Dmitriy Simashev was visibly shocked to hear his name called at No. 6 by the Arizona Coyotes, who went on to also select his teammate and countryman Daniil But at No. 12. Meanwhile, enigmatic talent Matvei Mickhov was on hand to walk to the stage and put on the orange-and-black when the Philadelphia Flyers selected him with the seventh pick.

Michkov is under contract for three more seasons with SKA St. Petersburg in Russia’s KHL but has been discussed in the same breath as Bedard in terms of pure talent. Their lone head-to-head tournament came when they were both double-underagers at the IIHF’s U18 tournament in 2021.

Michkov’s selection was a big swing for the Flyers’ rookie GM, Daniel Briere. With the word ‘rebuild’ now firmly in Philadelphia’s vocabulary, Briere has also made two big trades in the last few weeks, shipping out top defenseman Ivan Provorov and veteran center Kevin Hayes.

Another notworthy pick: David Reinbacher was the first defenseman selected, by the Montreal Canadiens at No. 5., and tied Thomas Vanek as the highest pick ever from Austria.

And no goaltenders were selected in the first round. The first goatender taken is expected to be 6’6” Czech stopper Michael Hrabel from the USHL’s Omaha Lancers, who is committed to the University of Massachusetts next season.

Day 2 of the 2023 NHL Draft will kick off at 11 a.m. ET on Thursday, from Nashville.