Chicago Blackhawks assistant coach Derek Plante didn’t have to see a lot of tape of Connor Bedard in juniors to realize he’s more than just a shooter.
“From the first day, I was 100% impressed with how good a passer he is,” Plante told the Tribune when asked about Bedard’s development as a playmaker. So is he evolving? Yeah, probably. But I think it’s more. He’s that passer, it’s just a level of learning (he has to reach). Just finding when the timing is (there) or not.”
For the most part, Bedard’s timing has been on point in the last month.
The NHL on Tuesday named him the rookie of the month for April — making him the second three-time winner since Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid did it in 2015-16 — and part of Bedard earning the nod was his season-high 13 assists for the month.
Bedard came one apple short of averaging an assist per game and has recorded an assist in four of his last five games. He had a four-assist game against the Anaheim Ducks on March 12.
“I’ve always felt like pass-first, to be honest with you,” Bedard said before reconsidering. “Maybe not pass-first, but at least 50-50.
“Coming in, maybe assists aren’t on the highlights as much … but for me I’ve always loved to dish it. And playing with these two guys — Dickie (Jason Dickinson), obviously a 20-goal guy, and Kurshy’s (Philipp Kurashev) going to get there by the end of the year. So I’m looking for them.”
Bedard’s savvy in finding them and others has been on display lately. He showed patience and vision during a two-on-one rush with Dickinson against the New York Islanders on Tuesday.
Isles defenseman Adam Pelech held his stick to the right, and Casey Cizikas, trailing the play, extended his stick, essentially cutting off a pass to Dickinson early in the rush.
But Bedard, coming up the right flank, waited for Pelech to flip his stick to his left side — Pelech now had to respect Bedard’s shot threat — and Bedard sauced a pass over Dickinson for a back-door goal.
“If the shot’s there, I’ll take it, but I do like to pass.”
“Maybe assists aren’t on the highlights as much … but for me I’ve always loved to dish it.”
—Connor Bedard on his passing pic.twitter.com/LMxduip6Wk
— Phillip Thompson (@_phil_thompson) April 3, 2024
Added Nick Foligno: “That’s just being a very elite player. They know when to pass the puck or the time the ‘D’ flips his stick or turns his feet. That little window you kind of create.
“A lot of times, too, people don’t realize unless you have a really tight sauce, it’s actually a slower pass. A lot of great players, they can feed it into you so you can get it off quicker. … Good players know when to use those kinds of passes and what situations, and Beds has that feel.
“He knows when he needs to pull it in and wait a guy out and throw it over his stick, or pass it quick. You see it sometimes, he just does a little slingshot pass and it gets over to the guy and the goalie can’t react.”
Despite some highlight dishes, no one’s saying Bedard is a finished product in that area — or even close.
“It goes off and on,” coach Luke Richardson said. “We harp on all of them.”
Richardson said Kurashev, Bedard’s most consistent linemate, has been just as guilty as Bedard, slowing down and looking for the perfect pass or perfect shot and allowing the window of opportunity to pass.
Blackhawks center Connor Bedard makes a pass against the Flames on March 26, 2024, at the United Center. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
“Your first instinct is right. Go off that,” Richardson said. “If the shot is in your vision, take it. And if it isn’t, that means maybe move your feet and find someone who could be open because everybody’s focusing on trying to block your shot. I think it comes and goes with young players.
“(Bedard) pressures and he shoots pucks maybe when the opportunity isn’t there, and (he) probably gets frustrated with that and he realizes I better start passing and distributing the puck more because people must be open.”
Even in those cases, as instinctual as Bedard is as a passer, Bedard has plenty of room to grow, Plante said.
“He still throws some errant passes where he thought a guy was open,” he said. “Maybe it closed down way faster than he anticipated. That’s just the level (of the NHL). All that stuff’s going to go away with time.
“He’s not just throwing pucks away. … You can see what he’s trying to do. It’s just not always connecting yet, just because of the time and the pace and the learning curve. (But) you can definitely see that he’s getting that.
“It’s getting better all the time.”
