Should George Parros’s Reign as Head of Department of Player Safety Come to an End?
May 12, 2023
Steve Staios could become the Oilers’ next General Manager
May 16, 2023The Chicago Blackhawks Don’t Deserve Bedard
CHICAGO, IL - APRIL 27: Chicago Blackhawks center Jonathan Toews (19) and teammates raise their sticks to fans as a thank you after a game between the Vegas Golden Knights and the Chicago Blackhawks on April 27, 2022 at the United Center in Chicago, IL. (Photo by Melissa Tamez/Icon Sportswire)
May 12, 2023 by Ryan Lotsberg
By winning the NHL Draft Lottery on Monday night, the Chicago Blackhawks won the first overall pick in the 2023 NHL Entry Draft and the right to select top prospect Connor Bedard. Bedard is being touted as the best prospect to hit the draft since Connor McDavid in 2015. The 17-year old from North Vancouver, BC set many Canadian records at the World Junior tournament including most goals and points all-time, and the most assists and points in a single tournament. He also set a tournament record for the most points in a single tournament by a player under 18 years of age. Bedard lit up the WHL this season by scoring 143 points in just 57 games, and he added 20 more points in the Regina Pats’s seven game playoff series against the Saskatoon Blades. The Blackhawks may have won the draft lottery, but they don’t deserve Bedard.
The Blackhawks won three Stanley Cups between 2010 and 2015. They’re eight years removed from a mini dynasty. They lost Brent Seabrook in 2020, and they lost Duncan Keith in 2021. They said goodbye to Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews this season. No worries though, because they just landed Bedard!
Let’s take it further. The Montreal Canadiens made a splash at the 2022 NHL Entry Draft at the Bell Centre when they surprisingly selected Juraj Slafkovsky with the first overall pick, which was expected to be used on Shane Wright. Wright is expected to be a top tier centre, and the Canadiens have needed an elite centre for decades. They chose Slafkovsky because they liked him, but they felt comfortable passing on Wright because they had a trade lined up with the Blackhawks for Kirby Dach, which was announced minutes later. If you remember the 2019 draft lottery, the Blackhawks had the thirteenth best odds of winning the lottery. They won the lottery and moved up ten spots to the third pick, which they used on Dach. That means that this is the second time that the Blakhawks have won the draft lottery in the last five years!
“Wait a second, an Oilers fan arguing that the Blackhawks don’t deserve a first overall pick because they won two draft lotteries in five years is pretty rich” you might say. Fair enough, the Oilers had four first overall picks from 2010-2015. Oilers fans suffered for a much longer time before the Oilers got those picks, and much more time had passed since their last Cup than the eight years it’s been for Chicago.
Anyway, I digress. The biggest reason that the Blackhawks don’t deserve Bedard is because of the Kyle Beach incident. The way that the organization handled Beach’s sexual assault was wrong. The people in power that knew about the assult did nothing to address it until after they had won the Stanley Cup that year, and they did the bare minimum. The ownership group only held people that were in the organization at that time accountable after everything was made public. Blackhawks owner Rocky Wirtz had this exchange with The Athletic’s Mark Lazerus at a public event on February 2, 2022:
Not only did Wirtz not answer the question, he prevented someone else from answering the question. The tone of his voice in the video and the way he angrily dismissed Lazerus’s question showed that he learned absolutely nothing from that whole ordeal. He did way more damage to his reputation and that of the Blackhawks by not answering the question than he ever could have by answering it.
Blakhawks GM Kyle Davidson hasn’t done anything to make me think he doesn’t deserve Bedard. None of the current Blakhawks players have done anything to make me think that they don’t deserve Bedard. It’s all about Wirtz and the ownership group. He has had enough success in his tenure as the owner of the Blackhawks. Wirtz showed his true colours during that exchange with Lazerus. Wirtz doesn’t deserve more success. He doesn’t deserve Bedard. He doesn’t deserve the surge in season ticket sales that happened after the Blackhawks won the draft lottery, and he doesn’t deserve the profits from Bedard jerseys.
Related: Should George Parros’s Reign as Head of Department of Player Safety Come to an End?
Once again, the Anaheim Ducks finished in the runner up spot in a draft lottery with a supposed generational prospect on the line. Then Ducks GM Brian Burke looked on as the Pittsburgh Penguins won the right to select Sidney Crosby in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft. Bobby Ryan was a good player, but he wasn’t Sid. This time, current Ducks GM Pat Verbeek had to watch the Blackhawks win the first pick over his team. Adam Fantilli and Leo Carlsson are great prospects, but they’re not Bedard. As much as I hate the Ducks and didn’t want to see Bedard in the Pacific Division, the Ducks deserved him more than the Blakhawks did.
I’m sure that Gary Bettman is elated that Bedard will be going to a large American original six market. Bedard being in Chicago will be great for the league; but that doesn’t do anything to change my stance that the Blackhawks don’t deserve Bedard.
