Barring a totally unexpected surprise of any kind, Connor Bedard will be a Chicago Blackhawk on Wednesday night.
Bedard, who turns 18 years of age next month, is widely regarded as the greatest NHL prospect since Connor McDavid. The latter was drafted first overall by the Edmonton Oilers in 2015, and he has won five scoring titles to date.
So yes, Bedard has quite the hype to live up to.
Per the @NHL_Watcher Twitter account, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman floated the idea of the Blackhawks signing veteran sniper Vladimir Tarasenko during a recent edition of “32 Thoughts: The Podcast”.
On paper, this would be a logical move for both parties. Chicago would be wise to acquire as many veteran scorers as possible to help Bedard make a smooth transition over to the NHL level.
Tarasenko, meanwhile, is coming off a frustrating season (split with the St. Louis Blues and New York Rangers) in which he tallied just 18 goals and 50 points. If he were to join Chicago and put up big numbers with Bedard, Tarasenko would reset his free agent value by a considerable margin next year.
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The 31-year-old Tarasenko is a six-time 30-goal scorer who helped the Blues to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship back in 2019. For his career, the two-time All-Star winger has 270 goals and 574 points in 675 career games.
