There’s a lot of firsts for Connor Bedard as he’s preparing for his first-ever NHL game next week.
The hyped rookie, of course, selected first overall by the Chicago Blackhawks this summer, has been getting a lot of time on the ice during the Blackhawks’ pre-season games, and earlier this week, he scored his first ”unofficial” goal for the Blackhawks, as he scored an empty-netter against the Red Wings.
Connor Bedard has displayed some of what he can do with great dekes and passes, but overall, the general opinion seems to be that he’s not been as impressive as many would’ve hoped.
It’s still the pre-season, but during one of the games against the Red Wings, he was completely shut down by a team mostly filled with rookies.
Bedard was in the lineup for Thursday’s pre-season game against the Minnesota Wild as well, but it didn’t go as Bedard would’ve hoped this time, either. The game was tied 2-2 after regulation and went to a shootout.
Bedard had his first unofficial shootout chance in the NHL, as he went out first for Chicago against veteran Marc-André Fleury. Bedard tried several moves but failed massively.
Fleury, drafted two years before Bedard was born, simply poke-checked the puck from Bedard, who lost balance and fell over. Fleury—who we could imagine found it very entertaining—of course skated by Bedard to give him a little tap on his shinguards.
The video of Bedard’s shootout attempt quickly went viral, as fans found it amusing.
”Welcome to the NHL for sure, poor kid lmao,” one said, for instance.
