While fans of the top 16 of the league’s 32 teams have spent the past month or so watching the playoffs, fans of the bottom 16 have been eagerly awaiting the draft lottery. This event is the single best chance most teams have to truly get elite talent and turn their franchise’s fortunes around.
Just look at the impact in Edmonton since they won the 2015 draft lottery and earned the right to pick Connor McDavid, or the New Jersey Devils since the first pick in both 2017 and 2019, landing Nico Hischier and Jack Hughes respectively. Winning the draft lottery and generally first or second pick is the biggest wildcard for every rebuilding team in the NHL, it completely changes your outlook and speeds up any schedule you may have set up.
Now that the dust has settled a bit on the draft lottery and Chicago Blackhawks lottery win, let’s take a look at Bedard’s fit in Chicago and what it could mean for this team moving forward.
Blackhawks win the Bedard lottery
Don’t let anyone tell you that the tank isn’t working. After only 10 months of dealing with Alex Debrincat and Kirby Dach in the lead-up to the 2022 NHL Draft, the Blackhawks have put together one of the most (read: embarrassing) years in recent memory. They’ve frozen lineups that were unwatchable at times, with one clear target all year, Connor Beddard.
Related: 2023 NHL Draft Guide
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I’ll give credit where it’s due to Blackhawks General Manager Kyle Davidson who quickly turned around the future of this team in a matter of months, adding some excellent prospects in the 2022 draft (Kevin Korczynski, Frank Nazar, Ryan Green, etc..), and making great deals. For futures, and to trade away from anyone with a pulse on the trade deadline to get a great deal in return. This team was to be well prepared for the future whether they won the lottery or not. I also want to shout out to the players and coaching staff of the Blackhawks, who have been placed in some unenviable positions this year and fought their way to a respectable half-time record by season’s end.
Well, with that out of the way, this is a pretty massive win for the Blackhawks, just like the final remaining members of the their 2010 dynasty (Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews) On their way out. Bedard will be the next focus of this team, and Chicago has plenty of great young players and drafting capital to build a competitor around him. They’re starting from scratch, so I expect it will be at least two full years before they even breathe the playoffs, but there’s no better prospect in this draft year to build on.
Every rebuilding team faces a slew of questions and roster holes that they need to fill before they can extricate themselves from the league cellar and run for the Stanley Cup. The hardest of these questions to answer is “Who will be the tallest man in your midfield? Will he make too many opposing defenders look ridiculous, lug too many pucks across the no-man’s land, and likely score too many goals along the way. Can’t you love him?”
Who is Conor Bedard?
Conor Bedard is the frontrunner for first place overall, with the potential to be an elite scorer in the NHL that completely changes the team’s fortunes. He is undoubtedly the best player in the entire Canadian Hockey League (CHL), and led the Western Hockey League (WHL) in goals and points as captain of the Regina Pats. The 17-year-old Bedard solidified himself as a top prospect in the draft at the 2023 World Junior Championships as he was clearly the best player in the entire tournament despite being two years younger than many of his opponents.
The last time there was so much noise about a prospect was back in 2015 when the arrival of Connor McDavid was highly anticipated, and Bideard could have a similar impact in Chicago. There’s a non-zero chance that Adam Fantelli will blow the competition out of the water for Team Canada in the Men’s World Series this May and pick up the number one spot in this year’s draft, but that’s unlikely after the season Bédard made it this year in the WHL>
An exciting night for the NHL future
At least two teams will likely look back on this day with the moment their luck finally turned around and their team took a huge step forward (the other being the Anaheim Ducks earning the second overall pick), while the rest of the league teams look back on it as the day they missed it. Some of the best young players in the world. Obviously, none of the top five picks are sure things (although the former is generally close to a sure thing as we’ve seen since 2015) and a lot could change between now and the 2023 NHL Entry Draft on June 28, but the level of talent is on the part. The top of this year’s draft is clear, and getting picked for the squad is a very valuable position to be in.
The Blackhawks organization and their fans have plenty of reason to get excited right now, and a peek into the bright future that lies ahead for them. Bedard has always been the target of a troubled Chicago side, so it’s now official that the Black Hawks’ 2022-23 season was an unqualified success.