NHL.com’s fantasy staff continues to cover the latest trends and storylines in the League through the lens of NHL EDGE puck and player tracker stats. Today, we look at the underlying metrics behind Connor Bedard and the surprising Chicago Blackhawks.
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The Chicago Blackhawks have been arguably the NHL’s most surprising team over the first month of the season, led by high-scoring forward Connor Bedard and breakout goalie Spencer Knight.
Chicago is 8-5-3 and currently in Stanley Cup Playoffs position approaching the one-quarter mark of the season (Nov. 20). Bedard, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, is among the NHL scoring leaders (25 points in 16 games; fourth in League) at only 20 years old.
Bedard has an eight-game point streak entering Chicago’s game against the New Jersey Devils (9:30 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT SN, TVAS2, SN360) on Wednesday; his 18 points in that span are the most in any eight-game span by a 20-or-younger player since Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby in December 2006. Chicago has stockpiled 11 first-round draft picks over the past four years, including a top-three selection in each of the previous three years, and is the third-youngest team in the League (average age of 26.78 years).
The rebuild for the Blackhawks, who have not made the Stanley Cup Playoffs since 2019-20, has also been accelerated thanks to Knight (acquired from Florida Panthers last season as part of Seth Jones trade), who ranks second in the NHL in save percentage (.926) behind Logan Thompson of the Washington Capitals (.935) among those who have played at least 10 games this season.
Here are three underlying reasons behind the Blackhawks’ strong start: