CHICAGO — Asked how he processes dropping, Connor Bedard recalled one in all his seasons with the Regina Pats – his junior hockey crew in Canada.
He didn’t need to look again very far. After all, the rookie middle simply turned 18 in July.
“I remember my 16-year in Reg, we didn’t make playoffs and had a slow patch, kind of similar to what we’ve had right now just at the start of the year,” he stated. “It was fairly sluggish, we had a dropping streak and stuff. It sucks, you by no means wish to lose video games.
“We know we’re a better team than what our record shows. We just got to keep coming to the rink every day and being positive and trying to get better, and hopefully that shows in the win column.”
While Bedard has lived as much as the appreciable hype he introduced with him to Chicago, he can solely accomplish that a lot. The Blackhawks nonetheless seem like a crew firstly of a rebuilding undertaking, albeit with a budding offensive star and a handful of promising defensemen.
Chicago has dropped 4 straight and 10 of 12 total after Tuesday evening’s 4-3 shootout loss to Nashville. It is off to a 7-16-1 begin after it was 7-13-4 via its first 24 video games final season.
“Every guy in here wants to do well,” ahead Nick Foligno stated. “I think that’s the hard part, is we’re not getting results.”
The greatest drawback for Chicago is its lack of scoring punch, even with Bedard within the fold. Heading into Wednesday’s NHL slate, the Blackhawks ranked thirtieth within the league with 59 targets, and its energy play was twenty ninth at 10.7%. They have scored six occasions throughout their present slide.
The Blackhawks tried to handle their traces within the offseason, bringing in veteran forwards Taylor Hall, Corey Perry and Foligno. But Hall is out with a season-ending knee harm and Perry was reduce for violating crew conduct insurance policies.
Andreas Athanasiou, who had 20 targets and 20 assists for Chicago final season, is on injured reserve with a groin harm. Lukas Reichel, a first-round decide within the 2020 draft, is off to a disappointing begin with two targets and 4 assists in 23 video games.
“We’ve started out some games, we’ve had some good O-zone and sometimes a little bit too much on the outside,” coach Luke Richardson stated. “We want to make sure we’re not just tossing pucks into the inside when we’re not ready for it. I think we have to be a little more determined to get pucks to the net, and I think that starts at the back end shooting pucks more and a little quicker.”
Of course, all will not be misplaced for Chicago. Not with Bedard trying each bit the participant the Blackhawks thought he can be after they took him with the No. 1 total decide within the draft.
Bedard leads all NHL rookies with a team-high 11 targets and 20 factors. From his consciousness, imaginative and prescient and playmaking means to his unflappable demeanor within the face of monumental consideration off the ice, he seems to be effectively on his solution to changing into one of many league’s greatest stars.
He has shows of frustration, like when he broke his stick and punched the again of the boards throughout a 5-1 loss at Detroit final week, however he appears to have the ability to transfer on shortly.
“We’re competitive athletes and that’s going to happen,” he stated. “But for sure, you don’t want to show too much. It’s something maybe the last few games I could get better at, but everyone has their moments.”
A smiling Bedard then remembered a time when he was “a bit of a baby” when issues didn’t go his approach on the ice.
“But I was really young, so my parents just said, ‘Stop,’” he stated.
Beyond Bedard, the hope for the Blackhawks extends to a gaggle of younger defensemen led by Kevin Korchinski. The 19-year-old Korchinski, one other first-round decide, has two targets and 5 assists in 24 video games. He seems as if he might be a mainstay on Chicago‘s blue line for years to return.
In the meantime, the Blackhawks have been suffering from inconsistency in a number of areas – one thing they speak about so much, however can’t appear to translate to the ice.
“In order to move the needle to where we need it to, we’ve got to show sustained flashes. We’ve got to show that we can do that the whole game,” Foligno stated. “Even a complete interval proper now could be what we’d like.
“It’s there. It’s like when your kid acts out,” he continued. “You know they can behave, but they do the other thing.”
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