Video surfaces of Leon Draisaitl bugging Connor Bedard

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Liam McCormick
September 27, 2024 (1:44 PM)

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A hilarious video is surfacing online of Leon Draisaitl bugging young Blackhawks superstar Connor Bedard at an off-ice event.

Draisaitl's deadpan humour is well known in Oil Country, but it may have caught Connor Bedard a little by surprise. At an event for the EA NHL Video Game, Draisaitl came up to Bedard and started playfully bugging him a bit, and joking about the difference in their ratings.

DRAISAITL: Dude, hurry up. There's other people that want to go too. Hey?

BEDARD: Oh, my bad. Hey, did you do the stickhandling one yet? What'd you get?

DRAISAITL: Don't worry about it. What'd you get?

BEDARD: 64.

DRAISAITL: 64? I got 108. I did, but he said I was middle of the pack.

BEDARD: Dude no you didn't. Well it was a different one then.

Draisaitl is clearly just razzing the young superstar, and showing him a little bit who's the veteran in the room. In comparison to Draisaitl, Connor Bedard looks like a naive little kid. At the same time, Draisaitl may be much older, but he's probably joking about these ratings. Bedard is only 19 years old, but he's undoubtedly a rising superstar who's got stickhandling skill in spades.

Connor Bedard lived up to the hype in his rookie season with the Blackhawks last year. In 68 games, he came in just under a point per game with 22 goals and 61 points. On a struggling Blackhawks team, it was incredibly impressive season from the rookie. Some believe that Bedard is the next generational talent in the NHL, and there is a bit of a comparison to McDavid's rookie year. Just like Bedard, McDavid had an incredibly productive rookie year that was disrupted by an injury. However, even rookie McDavid scored above a point per game.

The Chicago Blackhawks have made a few decent offseason additions to make their team a little more competitive than last year. If Bedard can keep improving and draw off his new teammates like Tyler Bertuzzi and a full year with Taylor Hall, Bedard could take another big leap this year.