On Tuesday night at the United Center, Blackhawks center Connor Bedard will appear in his 100th career regular-season game in the NHL. Yeah, time flies.
Remember his first goal in Boston? It honestly doesn’t feel like it was that long ago…
CONNOR BEDARD WITH HIS FIRST NHL GOAL 🥳🚨 pic.twitter.com/pQeHIDx7WO
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 11, 2023
How about his first goal at the United Center against Vegas?
CONNOR BEDARD WITH HIS FIRST GOAL AT THE UNITED CENTER 📢 pic.twitter.com/D5bW76aixQ
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) October 22, 2023
Entering Tuesday night’s 100th game (which, for those scoring at home, means with 99 complete games in the books), here’s Bedard’s career stat line:
29 goals, 58 assists, 87 points, 34 power play points, 5 game-winning goals
Here are the best numbers in the history of the Chicago Blackhawks for players in the first 100 regular-season games of their careers:
Bill Mosienko (1942-45) — 61 goals, 60 assists, 121 points
Denis Savard (1980-81) — 40 goals, 75 assists, 115 points
Steve Larmer (1981-83) — 52 goals, 56 assists, 108 points
Terry Ruskowski (1979-80) — 19 goals, 78 assists, 97 points
Patrick Kane (2007-08) — 31 goals, 65 assists, 96 points
Artemi Panarin (2015-16) — 37 goals, 58 assists, 95 points
Jeremy Roenick (1988-90) — 35 goals, 50 assists, 85 points
Jonathan Toews (2007-09) — 33 goals, 50 assists, 83 points
I will note here (because that’s what I do) that Larmer’s 18 power play goals and 10 game-winning goals in his first 100 career regular-season games are both franchise bests. His plus-50 is the second best in his first 100 career games behind only Phil Russell, who was plus-51.
A few other notable Blackhawks legends who didn’t make the top of the list:
Eddie Olczyk (1984-85) — 30 goals, 48 assists, 78 points
Bobby Hull (1957-58) — 22 goals, 49 assists, 71 points
Alex DeBrincat (2017-18) — 37 goals, 31 assists, 68 points
Phil Esposito (1964-65) — 27 goals, 36 assists, 63 points
Let’s put the start of Bedard’s career into some additional perspective. Since Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin came into the league together in 2005-06 (since most media outlets forget sports existed before 2000), here’s how some of the elite players in the NHL have performed in their first 100 career regular-season games:
Sidney Crosby — 49 goals, 83 assists, 132 points
Alex Ovechkin — 64 goals, 64 assists, 128 points
Evgeni Malkin — 42 goals, 72 assists, 114 points
Kirill Kaprizov — 50 goals, 62 assists, 112 points
Connor McDavid — 34 goals, 74 assists, 108 points
Paul Stastny — 37 goals, 63 assists, 100 points
Mathew Barzal — 24 goals, 75 assists, 99 points
Elias Pettersson — 40 goals, 58 assists, 98 points
Jason Robertson — 43 goals, 54 assists, 97 points
Auston Matthews — 52 goals, 38 assists, 90 points
Anže Kopitar — 32 goals, 58 assists, 90 points
Andrei Kuzmenko — 42 goals, 46 assists, 88 points
Brock Boeser — 47 goals, 39 assists, 86 points
Patrik Laine — 49 goals, 36 assists, 85 points
Johnny Gaudreau — 29 goals, 53 assists, 82 points
Bedard has come into the league with a great deal of hype and excitement. Last year, he drew tons of eyeballs to every Blackhawks’ broadcast. And, even with a serious injury, he was able to skate away with the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s rookie of the year. There have been ups and downs — there are for any young player in the league — but his numbers stack up very well.
Especially when you consider the rosters that have surrounded Bedard for those 100 games.
The future is bright for Bedard. Oh, and he still won’t turn 20 until July…