Bedard Hits 200 Points

Connor Bedard reached 200 National Hockey League points in 213 games, and WGN Radio noted that Patrick Kane hit the same mark in the same number of games for Chicago. That puts a 20-year-old center on the exact early scoring pace of the player who defined the franchise’s last championship era. (wgnradio.com) Bedard was the first overall pick in the 2023 National Hockey League draft, and he has already stacked 61 points as a rookie, 67 points in his second season, and 72 points this season through early April. Those three years got him to 200 faster than most rebuild centerpieces ever manage. (nhl.com) (espn.com) Patrick Kane’s first 213 games came at the start of his own first-overall career in Chicago from 2007 through part of 2010, when he posted 72 points, then 70, then kept climbing on a contender. Bedard matching that pace is striking because Kane did it on a team that was getting better fast, while Bedard has done it on a roster still learning how to win. (hockey-reference.com) (wgnradio.com) Chicago’s coaches are now building systems around him instead of just giving him minutes. The clearest example came this week, when coach Jeff Blashill used a five-forward power-play unit with Bedard stationed up high, in the spot usually held by a defenseman. (chicago.suntimes.com) That setup is unusual because most power plays keep a defenseman at the blue line as a safety valve, like leaving one driver in the car while everyone else runs into the store. Chicago instead put Bedard there because Blashill called him “a great distributor,” which lets the puck run through his hands on almost every touch. (chicago.suntimes.com) The experiment is new, but the Sun-Times reported it had already improved rapidly over five games and produced one of the Blackhawks’ best power-play performances in years against San Jose on April 6. Blashill said the group had earned the chance to begin next season together if the progress holds. (chicago.suntimes.com) The names around Bedard tell you where Chicago thinks this is headed. Frank Nazar is part of that unit now, and Anton Frondell, the third overall pick in the 2025 draft, has already joined the club and was described by Blashill as a one-timer threat on Bedard’s flank. (chicago.suntimes.com) (nhl.com) That is why the 200-point milestone lands differently than a neat trivia stat. Kane’s 200 points once signaled that Chicago had found its star before the roster was ready, and Bedard’s 200 points now suggest the Blackhawks may be at that same stage again, with the star already in place and the rest of the machine being assembled around him. (wgnradio.com) (chicago.suntimes.com)