Connor Bedard becomes first rookie to achieve feat since McDavid

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Liam McCormick
April 2, 2024 (6:05 PM)

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In his rookie season with the Chicago Blackhawks, Connor Bedard has lived up to the hype as a generational forward.

Today Bedard was announced as the NHL's rookie of the month for the third time this season, a feat that hasn't been accomplished since Connor McDavid did so in 2016.

Bedard impressed immediately upon entering the league, but he's already taken huge steps to improve his game during this season. Since coming back from his broken jaw injury, Bedard's been on an absolute tear, despite the Blackhawks team being worse and heavily depleted by injuries. In 14 games this month, Bedard has posted 4 goals and 17 points. It really is absolutely incredible considering his age and his linemates being Jason Dickinson and Philipp Kurashev.

Only Teemu Sellanne and Alexander Ovechkin have been able to win three rookie of the month awards besides McDavid and Bedard.

On the season now, Bedard has scored 21 goals and 57 points in 60 games, and is a total lock to win the Calder Trophy for best rookie in the NHL. Now that Bedard has proven to live up to the hype, the Blackhawks need to really start improving their team, and building the Original 6 franchise back into a competitive team. It'll be incredible to soon watch Bedard in the playoffs.

As for Connor McDavid now nine years into his career, he's also lived up to expectations of being one of the very best to play the game. With 976 career points already, all eyes are on McDavid to see if he could cross the 1000 career point milestone this season. It sounds absurd, but if any player could do it, McDavid could.

That's why it's so much fun to evaluate Bedard's rookie season along with McDavid's. So far, both players excelled on subpar teams, posting point per game seasons after missing significant time with injury. The two Connors have plenty of similarities so far, and it'll be incredible to watch as their careers unfold.