Connor Bedard is well surrounded: he has the teammates to explode this season.

Connor Bedard did well in his first NHL season.

He racked up 61 points (22 goals) in 68 games, and performed up to expectations. Especially when you consider that he was able to produce offensively when he had… nobody on his side.

I like Philipp Kurashev, but I’m sure you’ll agree that we’re not talking about a 1st line player in the NHL…

So Blackhawks management has remedied the situation by picking up some talented guys this summer.

Of the lot?

Tyler Bertuzzi and Teuvo Teravainen are two interesting acquisitions that could help Bedard get to the next level.

All three players played on the club’s first line this morning at practice:

Blackhawks lineup in practice
Bertuzzi-Bedard-Teräväinen
Hall-Nazar-Lardis
Savoie-Ludwinski-Anderson
Donato-Spellacy-Smith

Martinez-Jones
Vlasic-Brodie
Korchinski-Murphy

Mrázek
Weeks

– Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) September 24, 2024

Will they start the season together on the same unit?

Could be. If not, the return of Taylor Hall to the lineup (he played 10 games in 23-24) will give club head coach Luke Richardson more options.

All in all, the Hawks’ paper line-up is nothing like that of last season.

I wouldn’t be willing to bet on them making the playoffs, but I find it hard to believe that the Hawks will (again) finish in the bottom half of the NHL standings with a team like this :

The club has improved markedly on both forward and defense.

It’s up to Petr Mrazek and Laurent Brossoit to do the work in front of the net now…

All this to say that the Hawks have succeeded in their mission.

They had to find a way to better surround Connor Bedard, because his potential shouldn’t be wasted in Chicago.

Kudos to Kyle Davidson (GM), who has done a remarkable job this summer of adding talent to his team.

Overtime

– Oh.

Looks like Reinbacher was the problem last season in Kloten. From the basement last season to third place so far this season without Reinbacher. pic.twitter.com/lc2nCOrhYn

– Andrew Zadarnowski (@AZadarski) September 24, 2024

– It’s not serious, though.

Matthews exits practice with minor upper-body injury https://t.co/kTbilwwIfw

– theScore NHL (@theScoreNHL) September 24, 2024

– Chemistry works fast at Golden Knights camp.

the Eichel x Olofsson connection ‍ pic.twitter.com/iN8lGYB9D0

– Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) September 24, 2024

– Elias Lindholm is injured.

Elias Lindholm not on the ice again today for the Bruins and won’t skate in any exhibition games this week. He is day-to-day, per Jim Montgomery

– Joe Haggerty (@HackswithHaggs) September 24, 2024

– Yikes.