{"id":462774,"date":"2026-02-19T01:17:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T01:17:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/462774\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T01:17:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T01:17:11","slug":"connor-bedard-breaks-silence-with-clear-message-to-sidney-crosby-team-canada-after-being-left-out-of-2026-winter-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/462774\/","title":{"rendered":"Connor Bedard breaks silence with clear message to Sidney Crosby, Team Canada after being left out of 2026 Winter Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watching Sidney Crosby<\/a> and Team Canada in the 2026 Winter Olympics must not be easy for Connor Bedard<\/a>. The Chicago Blackhawks\u2018 star had high hopes of making the roster and joining the squad in Italy, but that simply wasn\u2019t to be. <\/p>\n

As Bedard returned to practice with the Blackhawks<\/a> amid the Olympic break in the NHL, it didn\u2019t take long before the former first overall pick was asked about his thoughts on the ongoing best-on-best tournament.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I mean, the games are pretty early. So, I haven\u2019t watched too much,\u201d Bedard told reporters after practice. \u201cToday, obviously we practiced [during the games]. But, I\u2019m keeping up with it and trying to watch highlights, recaps, and whatnot. Obviously, it\u2019s fun to watch. It\u2019s the best players in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bedard\u2019s statement on return to the ice with Blackhawks <\/p>\n

While participating in the 2026 Winter Olympics<\/a> would\u2019ve been a dream come true for Bedard, the 20-year-old knows there will be more opportunities for him down the road\u2014unless the NHL<\/a> bans players from participating again in the future. <\/p>\n

\"\" Connor Bedard at Bridgestone Arena on June 26, 2023 <\/p>\n

As Crosby\u2019s injury sparks fear of worst-case scenario<\/a>, a loud buzz has surfaced suggesting the league may frown upon sending its stars to the Olympics again. However, for the time being, that\u2019s nothing but a rumor. Thus, Bedard will most likely have his shot at a gold medal with Canada<\/a> in the future. Right now, however, his focus is set entirely on helping Chicago establish itself in the 2025-26 season.<\/p>\n

Back in full strength <\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone is so excited to be back,\u201d Bedard admitted. \u201cJust to kind of have that break. It\u2019s almost like a new season because the break was so long.\u201d <\/p>\n

Moreover, Bedard confirmed he is back fully healthy. Since suffering what Chicago called a \u201cfreak injury\u201d on his right shoulder on Dec. 12, Bedard had been taken off the face-off circle. Upon his return to practice in Windy City, the center confirmed he is back in a complete role. <\/p>\n

\u201cKind of switching [everybody] around, I felt a little bad for the guys. I had [Andre Burakovski] take a couple of draws, I think he won one,\u201d Bedard jokingly stated. \u201cIt\u2019s nice to play [my] full position, for sure.\u201d Bedard and the Blackhawks will resume their 2025-26 NHL season on Feb. 26th, when they visit Central Division rivals, the Nashville Predators in the Music City.<\/p>\n

SURVEY Should Team Canada have named Connor Bedard to the Olympic roster?<\/p>\n

Should Team Canada have named Connor Bedard to the Olympic roster?<\/p>\n

Yes, it would be an even better team<\/p>\n

Yes, but he doesn’t change much<\/p>\n

No, Team Canada would be a worse team with Bedard<\/p>\n

already voted 3 fans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Watching Sidney Crosby and Team Canada in the 2026 Winter Olympics must not be easy for Connor Bedard.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462775,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5115],"tags":[521,19,37,96,5263,508,5,4,768,2787],"class_list":{"0":"post-462774","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-blackhawks","8":"tag-blackhawks","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-chicago","11":"tag-chicago-blackhawks","12":"tag-chicagoblackhawks","13":"tag-connor-bedard","14":"tag-hockey","15":"tag-nhl","16":"tag-sidney-crosby","17":"tag-winter-olympics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116094662420376219","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462774"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462774\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}