Connor Bedard's Assist vs Pittsburgh: An Analysis

Last night, Connor Bedard returned for the first time after coming off a jaw injury that set him out for over a month. In his first game back, Bedard was immediately given top line reps with both Nick Foligno and Philipp Kurashev on his wing. It was evident the trio found chemistry from the start once again, as Bedard continued to pick up his game from the 2nd period and on. There was some rust, as naturally Bedard was looking to adapt back to his game form that had set him up for a point-per-game season had he not gotten injured, but this final stretch of the year could prove to be an even bigger year for him.

Bedard notched an assist on a goal by Philipp Kurashev midway through the 2nd. That was Bedard's 34th point of the year, for 15 goals and 19 assists, in 40 games. That's still a terrific pace for Bedard, as his projection has him at 58 points (26G, 32A) in only 68 games this year.

There were a lot of sequences that Bedard was still trying to link together his hands with feet for conditioning purposes in this game, as he's had a lot of ice time to skate and shoot by himself during the recovery process. He never seemed to look really winded in his shifts, but the steadiness and play-driving elements still remained consistent in how he was generating his shots.

“I think he’s really worked on his conditioning, and it showed tonight. I didn’t see any drop-off. I thought he was ready to go in the second half of that game. So when there were opportunities to get him out there a little bit more, I tried to do that. Their line was going well, especially in the second and third periods, so we tried to get them out there more because we needed them. We were chasing that game and we needed them to do it. They gave us some opportunities. Unfortunately, they didn’t go in." - Luke Richardson, Blackhawks Head Coach, Via The Athletic

Bedard had gone through extra contact drills in practice in the morning to see where he would be at in battle situations, and he was able to adjust naturally as he does with everything else he's done. There were situations were Penguins players would occasionally target him 1v1 to also see where he was at physically, but Bedard would always stay unfazed by it.

Bedard Assist vs PIT (2/15/24)

Initially, Nick Foligno retrieves this puck in a 50/50 defensive zone situation, and curves his route up the wall to keep the puck away from the house. Bedard, in this situation, doesn't swing towards the puck and does a terrific job swinging away. By swinging away from the puck here, it opens space and an easy passing window for Nick Foligno on a controlled zone exit. From there, Bedard attacks through the dot lane through neutral ice, creates a controlled zone entry with possession, and moves inside the dot lane on entry. Ryan Graves is looking to defend Bedard with gap leverage, maintaining depth to the stance in his feet to stay agile and aware, and looks to keep his shoulders square to Bedard.

Those two have trained together before, so there's familiarity with each other. What Bedard does initially looks as if he is going to get closed off by Graves since Graves was able to slightly slow him down on entry. Bedard changes the play up instinctively using his scoring instincts with multiple things to note:

1. He widens his stance, opening up room for him to shoot and create a comfortable puck-handling posture
2. He moves the puck to his hip for puck protection
3. As Graves reaches in, Bedard toe drags to his inside to try and open a shooting lane

Bedard didn't get a shot off here, but he did a terrific job incorporating multiple skillsets on the entry to manipulate Graves and look to create leverage. It all started with his wide stance, since on entry he knew he couldn't keep the puck in front of him. If he did that, Graves could easily swipe away and poke at it, so he had to incorporate some degree of deception. By widening his stance for posture purposes and then looking to move the puck to his hip, that adds a deceptive layer. So in this scenario, Bedard links together his feet and his hands to add deceptive layers to his puck-handling dynamics. It's amazing how he can think all this through in milliseconds.

Another thing Bedard likes to do is create a whip effect on his shots using leverage with his top hand location and how is able to leverage that. Bedard likes to keep that hand tucked for deceptive elements, as he's layered upon it as a habit, and he starts with that top hand near his inside thigh on his releases. He does this a lot.

This also gives him more dynamic in his posture when handling the puck, since he can stay lower and keep his base lower on his release. He also likes to keep his bottom hand slightly tucked into his side on his release as well, which creates a sort of whip effect and lever that helps him shoot with natural power. These are tiny, basic details that can easily help anyone improve their shot power as well.

Eventually, the puck gets kept in the zone off a great keep in play by Kevin Korchinski, in which Bedard ends up retrieving the puck back to himself. Bedard gains leverage inside the house by attacking towards the net, and sauces over to Philipp Kurashev for a terrific tap-in goal. The sequence all started from Korchinski, but Bedard did a terrific job turning the play towards the net and immediately keeping his head up to find Kurashev. Terrific play.

If Bedard continues to stay healthy down the stretch, he'll continue to get his in-game reps back and will surely be a lock for the Calder Trophy by the end of the season as well.

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