When you average a goal a game throughout your minor-league career, scoring only one in your first four NHL games can seem like a drought.
That’s the dilemma for Chicago Blackhawks rookie Connor Bedard, whose talent is so off the charts that everyone expects him to own NHL goaltenders from the start.
But this is not a video game, and no one walks into the league and dominates from the outset.
“I’m playing well, I’ve created chances,” Bedard said Wednesday during an off day in Colorado. “It’s pretty wild how I just can’t score.”
That’s a quote you can probably clip and save.
By the end of the season it could seem precious.
Bedard will get his goals — he had one entering Thursday night. It’s just a matter of time. In the meantime, the Hawks just want him to keep shooting and learning.
“He’s getting his chances, they’re going to go in,” coach Luke Richardson said. “He’s playing with confidence and playing well and we won our last game (in Toronto), so there’s really no desperation to change our game plan as a team or individually as a player.”
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As the Hawks prepared to play the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday at the Pepsi Center, Bedard’s opening trip has given him a chance to test himself against some of the game’s greats — Sidney Crosby, Auston Matthews and Nathan McKinnon — while learning the rigors of life in the NHL.
So far, so good.
Instead of gradually learning how to deal with the media barrage, the Hawks have thrown Bedard headfirst into the pool, making him available to reporters before every game on the five-game trip. He has handled himself with aplomb and doesn’t appear intimidated by the pressure he faces daily as an 18-year-old wunderkind.
Bedard already has proved to be a big drawing card. The opener in Pittsburgh drew a record-breaking audience for ESPN, making it the most-watched regular-season NHL game — outside of a Winter Classic — in network history. If the Hawks can manage to be competitive, the No. 1 pick in the draft to be the focus of more nationally televised games as the season goes on.
And though it’s obviously too early to make any judgments, the Hawks have played well on the road, going 2-2 heading into the Avalanche game. Goalie Arvid Söderblom looks like the real deal, and veterans Corey Perry and Nick Foligno have been everything the Hawks needed, picking up the slack in the absence of veterans Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.
Richardson on Thursday said Perry “yapping” at Maple Leafs winger Ryan Reaves was something that wasn’t lost on the rest of the players.
“Told him he’d lost his last two fights,” Richardson said. “And he asked him ‘What are you going to do? Are you scared?’ Corey was like, ‘I’ve never been scared a day in my life.’ For the young players to hear that and see him go out and wrestle with him on the ice and score the game-winning goal, like who is more effective in the game?
“You really have to know when to get heated and get involved in the game with the other players on the other team and when to harness your emotions and play your game when you have a chance to do something special in the game.”
Reaves was not impressed, saying Perry “kind of acts tough … he’s not tough.”
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Maybe, but it’s that kind of agitating the Hawks sorely need to give the team some personality. Bedard can do only so much.
The Hawks’ biggest test yet comes Saturday night at the United Center in their home opener against the defending champion Las Vegas Knights. The Hawks are rolling out the red carpet, although it should be noted that it’s not exactly something new and will feature a video tribute to late owner Rocky Wirtz before the game.
Last season ended with the emotion of Toews’ final game with the franchise. This year begins with the anticipation of Bedard’s UC debut.
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Tickets are already nearly double the price on the secondary market, according to ticketing technology company Logitix. Attention is being paid.
TVs in neighborhood bars that tuned the Hawks out last season are tuned back in. At a North Side pub Thursday, I asked a bartender if the Hawks have regained their mojo in the eyes of fans.
“People are optimistic again,” he said. “I don’t think anyone is getting out of control or anything, but at least they know there’s a future.”
That’s all you can ask for. And considering where the Hawks were at the end of last season, it’s almost unthinkable they would be in this position. Thanks to a lucky lottery night, here they are … and here we go.
Maybe starting with a long trip will be beneficial to the Hawks in the long run. They’ve kept their heads above water and showed they won’t back down to anyone.
No one is expecting anyone to sip from the Stanley Cup. Just give Hawks fans something to talk about.
That’s not too much to ask for, is it?