Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard. David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Connor Bedard is coming into his own as the NHL's top rookie

Originally posted on Daily Faceoff | By Colton Davies | Last updated 11/10/23

After a four-point night for Connor Bedard on Thursday, he is quickly and comfortably finding his game at the NHL level. Daily Faceoff president and insider Frank Seravalli talks with Tyler Yaremchuk about No. 98’s start to the season.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Bedard made it look easy last night against the Tampa Bay Lightning. The super rookie popped home four points against the Bolts. He’s now up to 11 points in 12 games on the season and is the first rookie to have a four-point game, only two rookies did it last season as well. It was a statement from No. 98 and day by day he is looking a lot more comfortable. Not even that he’s looked uncomfortable, he’s just really figuring out the NHL at a very fast rate.

Frank Seravalli: I was in Pittsburgh for his very first game and the first thing I said was to give him a few weeks, he’s got to figure out how different the game is at this level with how people enter the zone, dissect and cut through it, his teammates, the pace of play and everything is different. So to think you’ll step in on day one and start hitting people you know over the head with a 2x4 but not to say there won’t be other pits and stops or he won’t hit a roadblock but this is a very promising sign and I predicted 100 points for him and obviously there is a lot of work that needs to get done but you can start to see it all come together.

Frank Seravalli: Even on Thursday versus Tampa, he had those four points in the first 22 minutes of the game. We could’ve easily been in a situation where we were talking about a six or seven-point night especially if things got out of hand, but that didn’t happen. So it goes to show that even when he’s closing in on a point per game there’s so much room to grow. I saw a fascinating stat on social media, it took him 12 games in the WHL to get to a four-point night. Different league, a different story but still interesting to think about, a young guy who’s finding his way and you can really see it.

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