Sweeney says Bedard part of ‘next wave of great players’ after 4 Nations snub
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Chicago Blackhawks star Connor Bedard was not one of the 13 forwards named to Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off team when the official roster was revealed on Wednesday.
The No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft was awarded the Calder Trophy as Rookie of the Year last season and has historically performed well in international tournaments, tallying 23 points in seven games at the 2023 World Junior Championships and scoring five goals and eight points in 10 games at the 2024 IIHF World Championships.
However, Bedard has struggled to find his footing in his sophomore season, as he is on pace for 16 goals and 60 points in 82 games this season, a far cry from the 22 goals and 61 points he registered in just 68 games last season.
Despite being left off Team Canada for this tournament, general manager Don Sweeney says the 19-year-old is part of "the next wave of great players" and remains in contention for a spot in the 2026 Winter Olympics as he continues to gain experience at the NHL level.
"It's his second time around the league. There's some challenges associated with that. He's working through that, in a situation where he gets all the attention possible from the best players that he's playing against each and every night," said Sweeney. "So I think he's living and breathing it right now and it's only going to help him to continue to build his resume and we're excited about that.
“He is a terrific young player. Connor firmly falls into that category. We just know the special qualities he has. He and several other players fall into that category that could be a part of [Olympic GM Doug Armstrong’s] team in the Olympics.”
Sweeney and Team Canada head coach Jon Cooper told the media that the management team built the roster to win the 4 Nations Face-Off, without looking ahead to the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan.
"We built this team to win the 4 Nations. The Olympics is still a year away. Are there players that are going to develop and take strides in that time? There's no question," said Cooper. "Especially some of these younger players where your development continues. That's just going to make decisions tougher."
"We wanted to identify players that are going to project out down the road. Players that might not necessarily be ready to push somebody out of a job that we felt had earned it at this point," Sweeney said. "We're going to have to continue to have those [players] stack up on top of each other in the next year and a half and make a really hard decision on several emerging players. We're incredibly excited about them, but we couldn't lose sight of the fact that we were building a team for February.