Bedard showing more patience early in sophomore season

Chicago Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard is learning to let the game come to him in his sophomore season.

Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno and coach Luke Richardson spoke in Calgary Tuesday about how they’ve watched the young star grow in his play away from the puck and in his overall game management early in his second NHL season.

Bedard, who is coming off a three-point performance in Saturday’s win over Edmonton, was not made available to reporters ahead of tonight’s game against the Flames.

“I thought we played a pretty good first [period] where he was working extremely hard on both sides of the puck and nothing was really going for him,” Foligno said of Bedard’s play against the Oilers.

“He stayed patient with it, and he didn’t try to do more than he needed to. All of a sudden, the game came to him…last year, I think he felt like if he’s not producing all the time, he’s looking for those opportunities and maybe opening himself up. Whereas last game, he let the game come to him.”

Foligno also commended Bedard’s commitment in the defensive zone.

“It’s such an important part of the game,” Foligno said. “When you do play on that side of it, it’s amazing how the game opens up for you on the offensive side, and I think that’s what he’s seeing.”

Richardson said he recently used a clip of Bedard in a team film session to show how important it is for forwards to be committed to the defensive aspects of the game.

“On an offensive zone faceoff on a loss, they took off on a line rush and [Bedard] skated as hard as I’ve ever seen him skate back, and…it gave [defenceman Alec] Martinez an easy out. Otherwise, Martinez was in a one-on-one battle in the d-zone by himself…he realizes that he gets the puck back, and he’s also not wasting his energy chasing in the defensive zone for another minute after that.”

Richardson said Bedard is also learning to pace himself more, which should pay off later in the season.

“Keeping shift lengths short,” Richardson said of the approach. “He knows he’s going to be on the ice at the end of games…he’s going to have to have 100 per cent juice, ready to go. Sometimes you can burn your legs out early in the season with long shifts early in games.”

Foligno, who has skated in 1,158 regular-season games over his 18-year NHL career, said he sees a strengthening bond between the 19-year-old centre and his teammates.

“I think that’s just trusting teammates,” Foligno said. “For so long, I think Connor has probably done it on his own, right? I think now, he’s realizing that there’s a lot of good players in this league too. And we’re here to help. We all want to do well. We all want to help him be successful.” 

Bedard’s evolution and maturity has the Blackhawks excited as they hope to take a step this season with a more veteran group. 

“That’s an exciting thought, that he’s starting to think like that and understand the team game,” Foligno said. “If he can learn that side of it where he can be a little more patient and let the game come to him, it’s going to make him that much better of a pro…

“When I was 19, I was doing a lot worse stuff than he was doing, so it’s impressive how he’s improved already from year to year. We’re lucky with how committed he is to the game and how much he loves it.”

Projected Flames lineup

Honzek - Kadri - Kuzmenko
Huberdeau - Pospisil - Mantha
Zary - Backlund - Coleman
Lomberg - Kirkland - Coronato

Weegar - Miromanov
Bahl - Andersson
Bean - Pachal

Wolf

Projected Blackhawks lineup

Foligno - Bedard - Teravainen
Hall - Kurashev - Bertuzzi
Mikheyev - Dickinson - Anderson
Maroon - Athanasiou - Smith

Martinez-Jones
Vlasic-Brodie
Kaiser-Murphy

Mrazek