It was expected that Connor Bedard would be team captain of the Chicago Blackhawks.
He’s been the face of the franchise since he was drafted No. 1 in 2023, but NHL experience was needed before the “C” could be bestowed upon him. Bedard proved in his first three seasons, playing with a variety of teammates, that he can produce in any situation. After former captain Nick Foligno’s trade to the Minnesota Wild, the time was nigh.
On Sept. 15, Captain Connor finally arrived, as he was named the 37th captain of the Hawks franchise.
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The 21-year-old from British Columbia became the second-youngest captain in Hawks history, behind Jonathan Toews. With that came a higher level of responsibility for the center and heightened expectations for the Hawks.
“This is such an honor, one of the biggest honors in my life and for a storied franchise like this to be named captain and follow in the footsteps of Foligno, (Chris Chelios), Toews, you can go down the list,” Bedard said at the time. “It’s an incredible honor, something I don’t take lightly. I hope we can really do some great things here in the next little while.”
His captaincy had an abnormal beginning — he had injured his left shoulder a couple of months prior, missing training camp and the team’s first six games following surgery. The Hawks went 1-5-0 without Bedard.
He returned on Oct. 13 against the Pittsburgh Penguins, almost a month earlier than his initial four-month timeline. In the three games he’s been back, the Hawks are 2-1-0.
This season, Bedard has three points (one goal, two assists) and 17 shot attempts (eight on goal) in 20 minutes, 18 seconds of average ice time. He’s scored 206 points (76 goals, 130 assists) in 222 career games.
Those three games were his first of the 2026-27 season and the first of his captaincy. The team is now officially Bedard’s, so he might need to touch up his tendencies on and off the ice.
Or does he? Has he really found himself changing anything now that he’s back?
“No, not really.” Bedard bluntly told the Tribune.
The center is still the high hockey IQ player he’s always been, but he also seems to be the same calm, supportive figure as well. That’s how coach Jeff Blashill has seen things thus far.
“The best way to lead is to be true to who you are,” Blashill said. “The biggest compliment I can give him is he hasn’t changed at all, he is exactly who he’s been. He’s growing up, but to me, he’s been true to himself, which is the most important thing as a leader.”
Bedard did get to show leadership for the first time as captain after a tough loss. The Hawks could not create anything in a 4-0 loss on Saturday to the Dallas Stars.
“We’re talking all game — I think we got a lot of guys that do that, including myself — if we feel like we need to talk as a unit, we’ll do that,” Bedard said Saturday. “I think we know what we did wrong tonight, and we know how to correct it.”
It’s something that defenseman Alex Vlasic noticed — there’s no doubt the team wants to win, but he’s seeing the Hawks handle losses better this season. He said that instead of letting a loss linger, the team still knows how to have fun but respond with a good practice.
Bedard thinks the same.
“I think practices have always been positive and high tempo, and that’s really all you can do,” Bedard said. “The night of, you’re going to be frustrated, but coming in the rink the next day, (we’re) putting in the work, and we’ve done a good job of that every day.”
The Hawks (3-6-0) have had their fair share of losses, mostly to playoff teams from last year. It’s good experience for a young team, but five losses were by three or more goals. What’s the balance between learning from contenders and knowing that wins have to come against them eventually?
It’s something Bedard and company are still figuring out, but the 21-year-old believes they know what to do.
“Every team’s really good in the NHL and we’ve got to start beating those top-end teams,” Bedard said. “You can see when you play Carolina or Dallas where they’ve been in the hunt the last five years probably — you see how structured they are, how few mistakes they make, so it gives us another kind of goal of something to reach towards.
“We know what we need to do to be a good team. It’s just doing that every night and every shift, and I feel like those teams do a good job of that.”
With a continued gauntlet of contenders on the schedule for the Hawks, they need to start applying those lessons learned. The captain has a good idea of what the team needs to do to string wins together.
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“We worked hard the last couple days, a lot of breakouts, D-zone stuff, we want to play with the puck (and) don’t want to get hemmed in as much,” Bedard said. “That’s on the forwards, getting in good spots and helping the D-men out, and on all five guys to be connected. Once we start doing that better, I think that’ll really show a lot of improvement.”
Bowen Byram still day-to-day
Defenseman Bowen Byram remained absent from practice on Tuesday as he deals with an upper-body injury presumably suffered against the Penguins. He was hit in the face with the puck in the Hawks’ 5-3 win but finished the game. He has neither practiced nor played in the two games since.
Blashill said the 25-year-old is not in concussion protocol, but did not elaborate further.