A more comfortable Connor Bedard is hoping to put together a big second season with the Blackhawks

CHICAGO (AP) — Connor Bedard was one of the first players on the ice on Monday. He also was one of the last to leave when practice was over.

In many ways, Bedard is the same guy as he begins his second season with the Chicago Blackhawks. In some subtle ways, he is a different person and player than he was a year ago.

“I think he’s become — I mean even more so than last year — just a little more comfortable in his skin,” Blackhawks captain Nick Foligno said. “I think he understands the league, and you can see he’s growing as a person and as a player. … I’ve seen a more driven player. I think he wants to better himself for this season and build on last year.”

Bedard is once again Chicago’s most important player ahead of its season opener at Utah on Tuesday night, just like he was as a rookie. His development will be closely watched, but the hype that followed him throughout his first NHL season has dissipated a bit.

That’s just fine with Bedard, who — while seemingly comfortable with the attention — has never seemed to enjoy talking about himself all that much.

“It feels good for myself, just being maybe a little more relaxed going into it,” Bedard said.

The biggest difference with Bedard, who just turned 19 in July, might have more to do with his surroundings than the young center himself. Looking to help Bedard take his game to another level and start to emerge from its rebuild, Chicago upgraded its roster after it went 23-53-6 last year.

Bedard skated with Teuvo Teravainen and Ilya Mikheyev — two offseason acquisitions — for the team’s last practice before traveling to Utah. He also played alongside Tyler Bertuzzi, who signed with Chicago in free agency, during training camp.

“I think he’s always had that confidence with the puck and making plays,” defenseman Connor Murphy said. “I’d say if anything now he’s got more veterans around him on his line, so I think that can help in different situations in the game and having more of a 200-foot game.”

Bedard was taken by Chicago with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 draft. While dealing with all the hoopla that went along with his arrival in the NHL, he had 22 goals and 39 assists despite being sidelined for more than a month because of a broken jaw. He won the Calder Memorial Trophy for NHL rookie of the year.

When it was over, he applied everything he learned as he prepared for his second year.

“I think, for me, a lot of speed and stuff,” Bedard said. “I was in the gym and on the ice just trying to put myself in as much of game situations as I can.”

Some of Bedard’s confidence going into his second year — even with his considerable skillset, made even sharper by his summer work — just has to do with the experience he gained in his first season.

“I think there’s just little things that you pick up or you change a little bit after getting used to the league and playing some games,” he said. “So I think there’s just kind of little plays that I make now or know what’s going to work and all that.”

Bedard, listed at 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds, was a bit feisty during Chicago’s preseason games, tangling with Minnesota’s Joel Eriksson Ek and fighting with St. Louis forward Zach Bolduc. He brushed it off as “just hockey” and not part of any adjustment on his end, wryly pointing out that he would lose a fight against most NHL players.

Coach Luke Richardson also downplayed the significance of Bedard’s preseason physicality. But he highlighted where he thinks Bedard’s game is going.

“I think he’s just going to get stronger and know when he needs to hold on to that puck and know when he needs to get it off his stick a little bit earlier and spin off and get open again,” Richardson said. “And I think those things are going to come in time. … He’s just raring to go and move up the ladder, both as a team and then I think himself individually.”

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