12 Things You didn’t Know About Connor Bedard: Bedard has been a chip off the old puck, No one’s giving Bedard a pass on his passing and MORE!

In the world of hockey, where legends are born and heroes are made, a new star is rising, rewriting the rules of the game. Connor Bedard, not just a name on a jersey but a whirlwind on ice, captivating fans and baffling opponents alike.

‘Everyone’s eyes are on him.’ 3 things we learned about Connor Bedard from Chicago Blackhawks veterans.

Chicago Blackhawks coaches spent time in the film room with players before Wednesday’s practice at Fifth Third Arena going over the miscues that contributed to a tight battle with the Nashville Predators on Tuesday, which the Hawks ultimately lost 4-3 in a shootout.

One of the chief culprits was turnovers.

Keeping track of giveaways isn’t the most exact science in scorekeeping, and it’s not uncommon to miss one here or there, but the Hawks were credited with 23 of them.

Defenseman Seth Jones wasn’t sure about the exact number but “it’s too many.”

“I mean, I don’t think we need a statistic for that, you can just feel it in the game,” he said. “(Going) through the neutral zone has been a struggle with us all season. Whether it’s a bad pass … or trying to beat a guy one-on-one, it just doesn’t work.”

Thirteen different Hawks were tagged with at least one giveaway — even goalie Arvid Söderblom — but when Connor Bedard puts up a game-high five, it’s going to stand out like a flashing red goal lamp.

Because of who he is, that’s just how it is.

After Wednesday’s practice, several veterans talked about where Bedard showed some growing pains, as well as a recent good sign that marks his maturation.

Here are three things we learned.

1. No one’s giving Bedard a pass on his passing.

Two bad passes in particular stood out.

A minute and a half into the game, he dished back to the point — likely expecting Nikita Zaitsev or Jarred Tinordi to be there — and threw it right to Predators winger Kiefer Sherwood. Sherwood started a Nashville breakout, but the Hawks turned it back.

“I remember that one,” Nick Foligno said. “I think he thought the D was going to join him, and he just didn’t throw it away to nobody. It looks worse than probably what your intentions are. But, you know, you can’t be careless with the puck, either.”

In the third period, on the Hawks’ second power play, Bedard tried a no-look backhand seam pass to Philipp Kurashev but it was picked off by Gustav Nyquist.

“I mean, he knows better with some of the stuff,” Jones said. “I’ve talked to him. He was getting away with this stuff the last couple years in junior hockey.”

Bedard had 121 assists over the previous two seasons with the Regina Pats, pulling off passes that could make heads (and bodies) turn.

In the NHL, “guys sticks are so much better on the penalty kill through the middle usually,” Jones said. “They’re going to knock every single one of those down usually. Just bank it back up to me, I’ll walk (it and) it’s coming right back to you. I’ll get right back to you.”

Jones said Bedard “for sure” has been receptive to criticism and suggestions.

Coaches and players alike want him to continue to be creative, Jones said, just temper himself.

Other Hawks veterans agreed.

Taylor Raddysh said, “He’s looking to create offense. Sometimes you see something and you do make mistakes. Hockey’s a game of mistakes and things are going to happen, and sometimes they don’t look pretty or sometimes they do work out.

“The team talked about it today,” he said. “It’s something we’ve got to limit and just to stay on momentum and just not give it back, and he’ll learn off that and be better next time.”

Foligno said Bedard has to realize “there’s some really good players in the league, too, that are gonna stop that (pass). So that’s just learning.”

Players often think a teammate’s there to receive a pass when they’re not, and Foligno, who’s in his 17th season, said he’s as guilty of it as anyone.

However, when it’s Bedard’s turnover, “it’s magnified because everyone’s eyes are on him.”

The three veterans agreed it stems from Bedard wanting to be a difference-maker, but he has to pick his spots.

Foligno said, “Is it late in the period? Is it a long shift and you’re making that pass? And that’s where you step in and say, ‘Hey, we can’t be doing that.’ …

“But he’ll learn as he goes, because he’s always looking to create and he sees people,” Foligno said. “I remember the game in Winnipeg. He throws a backhander across the ice to Kurashev, who had pretty much a wide-open net, but I think he (Kurashev) was surprised he got it.

“Those are the plays that he can make,” Foligno said of Bedard.

Late in the first period, Bedard committed his second turnover on an attempted back pass to Jones, who was curling to Bedard’s left flank. The puck drifted in front of Tyson Barrie, who chipped it out of the Predators’ zone.

Richardson said, “Last night he came in to see what happened” on that play.

“He thought he dropped the puck to Seth at the end of the first period, and we put a ‘tail’ on it,” he said.

During Richardson’s postgame address, he explained, “We call it a tail (because) you’re supposed to drop a puck and leave it where it is, but if you put a tail on it, the guy coming in has no idea where it’s going to be. It means it’s still moving.”

Richardson said Wednesday when Bedard saw the video in the morning, “I could see right in his face … because he dropped it blindly skating forward, he didn’t realize that he did that. So he was disappointed in his execution there.

Richardson planned to show him more clips in the afternoon.

Bedard has been receptive to instruction, Richardson said.

“He gets on the (team’s) video clips, both good and bad, just like everybody else,” he said. “That’s just the process of a young guy learning.”

2. Bedard has been a chip off the old puck.

It wasn’t all bad for Bedard by any stretch.

He did get his first career shootout goal on his first attempt.

Also, some of his veteran teammates said he has added one subtle, but substantial, element to his game,

“I’m starting to see him actually chip pucks in, which is impressive,” Foligno said. “We weren’t seeing that a lot early on.

“He’s understanding now, ‘All right, I got a one-on-three here,’ (where before) he would try to beat the guys all alone, now he’s chipping it by them trying to get around them. So he’s learning.”

“We’ve all noticed that,” Jones added. “It’s probably been cut in half when it comes to (stickhandling by defenders), honestly, which is a big step for him. I know he wants to go one-on-one, which is tough. Defenders are tough in this league.

“They’re not going to stare at the puck, they’re going to look at your body. … So chipping it in and using his speed going around and getting it again is going to be more effective.”

Jones said ex-Hawk Patrick Kane excelled at that.

“He would always chip it in and go on the forecheck,” he said. “The most skilled guys in this league still chip it in.”

Richardson said he most noticed Bedard adopting the chip-in during the game against the Predators on Tuesday night.

“When you slow down and crisscross and drop pucks at the blue line, there’s not a lot of space for that,” he said. “As the game went on, I noticed him laying pucks in.”

Coaches showed a clip of a second-period forecheck in which Bedard and Kurashev stole the puck and found linemate Anthony Beauvillier near the face-off dot, and Beauvillier got a shot off.

“Maybe not a high-end scoring chance, but it’s a scoring chance and it chips away at the other team’s defense,” Richardson said. “So you have to think about the game as 60 minutes, maybe 60 minutes-plus.

“You can’t think about it as win-or-lose in one shift, otherwise you get a little risky doing that.”

3. Is Bedard becoming something of an iPad pro?

Before Bedard and his idol, Sidney Crosby, faced off in the Hawks season opener in Pittsburgh in October, the two centers — ages 18 and 36, respectively — answered several pop-culture questions for Bleacher Report’s “Generational Quiz.”

When asked about Apple’s iPod, Bedard initially called it a “little iPad.” (So is a flat-screen TV just a really big iPad?)

It appears he hasn’t let go of his iPad obsession.

Bedard reviews plays on the iPad during games, and Richardson isn’t entirely enthused.

“Sometimes that becomes too much,” he said. “You’re missing the game and what’s going on in front of you.”

We pause here for every Gen Xer or Boomer who wants to vent about talking to the top of their kid’s head because they’re so engrossed by whatever’s on their screen.

Richardson said there are teaching points you can only absorb by watching other players during their shifts, or by listening to conversations about what’s happening in real-time.

“It’s good maybe during TV timeouts to look at a few things,” he acknowledged, “but while the play’s running I’m not a big (proponent) of that. … It’s like it’s only about their shift. Well, there’s a lot more going on that you can learn from.

“And also I might call his name at any moment, and then you’re throwing an iPad down, grabbing your gloves and trying to get over the boards, and you don’t know what (game situation) you’re getting into,” Richardson said. “It could be a backcheck, someone’s hurt or broke a stick or it could be a line rush that you could jump in and get a chance.

“So you have to be ready and not be too technically involved during the game.”

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