Connor Bedard Selection Sets the Foundation for the Chicago Blackhawks' Rebuild

NASHVILLE -- Rebuilds aren't exactly fun.

Parting ways with team legends is painful and losing a lot of games makes everyone question if it's worth it at all to do it. Turning around an organization that's moving on from the past requires the resolve to actually do it and the ability to say goodbye to franchise icons that brought past glory without looking back.

The Chicago Blackhawks drafting Connor Bedard first overall in the 2023 NHL Draft is the kind of good luck that comes along once a generation in hockey. Bedard is the key that allows the Blackhawks' management and their fans to put the championship years of the 2010s behind them and start dreaming truthfully about winning Stanley Cups again in the 2020s.

"It still doesn't feel real, to be honest. It's so crazy," Bedard said. "I have such a passion for hockey, and it's all I really want to do. I'm just trying to kind of take things one day at a time. This is of course a big step in the journey, and very exciting day for my family."

Bedard has come with the hype befitting a future megastar. He's been in the spotlight since he was 14 years old and granted exceptional status to play in the Canadian Hockey League at 15. All eyes have been on him since to see how he would develop and what kind of player he would be. The countless goals and assists over the past three seasons with the Regina Pats confirmed he was indeed exceptional. Now, he'll be the cornerstone of Chicago's eventual resurgence.

"We're very fortunate," Chicago general manager Kyle Davidson said. "I know it was very tough to make the decision to move on from Jonathan and Patrick and not knowing who's on the other side of that was not easy. And so, folks thought it was the best course of action, whether we won the lottery moved up or not. Luckily, we did. It's a tough decision, but luckily we won the lottery and here we are."

While luck was certainly helpful, Davidson had to do work to help set the foundation to build upon a year ago and that wasn't exactly easy to do. Chicago went into the 2022 draft without a first-round pick and made three separate trades to secure three first-round picks. With those selections, they took defenseman Kevin Korchinski seventh overall, forward Frank Nazar at 13 and defenseman Sam Rinzel at 25.

Now that Bedard and speedy American forward Oliver Moore, who they selected with the 19th pick, are in place after the first round this year, it's hard not to think back to past Chicago drafts when they landed Toews, Kane, Brent Seabrook and Duncan Keith. Will history repeat itself? There's good reason to think it could, but reason enough to be skeptical at the same time.

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Bedard is the absolute sure thing and the way he plays is going to make everyone on the ice with him exponentially better. But as we've seen with Connor McDavid, it'll take more than one player to get Chicago back to the level it wants to achieve. Even Kane, despite his all-world talent, needed Toews and others for them to be champions.

It meant drafting Niklas Hjalmarsson to provide an edge on defense and Brian Campbell to move the puck with skill and ease through all zones. Adding Marian Hossa in free agency brought them to the next level as a scorer and an elite defensive forward up front. Role players like Michal Handzus, Colin Fraser and Michael Frolik gave them a unit of checking-line forwards to grind up opponents. It also meant having Antti Niemi and Corey Crawford solidify goaltending to win separate titles.

The building blocks with great drafting, including a No. 1 pick, are what got the first Chicago dynastic run to produce three Stanley Cups. With Bedard as the literal centerpiece, the Blackhawks are officially off and running to get back to the top of the league. It's not going to happen immediately, but following the same blueprint can get them back there sooner than anyone would've thought when they started dismantling the roster in recent years.

Bedard knows the trek for Lord Stanley begins with a single step and if (read: when) he makes the team, his introduction to the NHL will begin Oct. 10 against another generational player whose team built themselves through the draft and grew together over the years: Sidney Crosby.

AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

"I was trying not to look at the schedule," Bedard said. "Some people were telling me; I didn't want to look too hard into it. But man, if I'm able to make the squad come October, (Crosby has been a) childhood idol, ever since I can remember. That would be unbelievable. It's a little bit of time away. I think I'll kind of dream about it now, but hopefully, that comes."

We're going out on a limb here in thinking Bedard will be on the Opening-Night roster. For Blackhawks fans, they'll be hoping it'll be the first of many in a long, successful career in the Windy City.