Blackhawks Picked the Perfect Time to Announce Connor Bedard’s Captaincy

The first big news of the Chicago Blackhawks season is in, and while it isn’t much of a surprise, Connor Bedard is now the 37th captain in Blackhawks history.

With much going on around the league with contract extensions, the prospect challenges beginning and camps opening up this week, the organization timed the announcement perfectly from a PR standpoint, but also for hockey reasons.

While many might not care about the PR standpoint, it is definitely part of the thought process when teams announce or decide on things. In this article, I’ll break down why it was perfect for both PR and hockey-related reasons.

The Public Relations Aspect

I mentioned earlier that there is a ton going on around the league, and I think part of that does matter to the timing of the Blackhawks’ announcement on Tuesday.

I’m not saying the Blackhawks saw that a lot of extensions were being signed and thought they needed to do something; what I am saying is that just before the opening of camp would be the perfect time to do it.

Most people know that there is a dead zone in the NHL offseason calendar that usually takes place a couple of weeks after free agency opens and just before prospects start to report to their prospect challenges or just before everyone heads to camp.

In the dead zone, nothing really happens, but once NHL teams and organizations start to come back from their summer vacations, some rumors start to trickle out about unresolved business from the end of last season or the draft.

With NHL fans starting to grasp back onto storylines or just news in general, the organization threw the Blackhawks fanbase a bone with the positive news.

The reason I say the organization threw the fanbase a bone is that, generally, I think this was a bit of a negative offseason, press-wise. I know a few of you reading this may not agree, and that’s fine, but this is the way I look at the offseason.

First of all, we come off yet another season with very little progress in the rebuild and another lottery pick heading into the draft.

Then general manager Kyle Davidson overpaid for Bowen Byram when it came to the trade package, in my eyes. I’ve been very open in saying that the package was way too expensive, and while I’ve softened my stance on the contract being too expensive, it still shocked some people.

With the trade and extension, we don’t see the Blackhawks using the pick on another prospect or the first choice in terms of trade targets for many.

For example, I wanted the Blackhawks to target somebody like Matthew Knies for plenty of different reasons. I wrote a whole article during the season about why he’d be perfect that I think still fits today.

Following that trade, the Blackhawks had a pretty lacklustre free agent period, which I think most people saw coming with the market, but there was still no real excitement generated.

Then you have the injury that Bedard suffered while training during the offseason, which will likely hold him out for a good chunk of the start of the season.

That is followed by Bedard signing an extension that I was a big fan of, but many pointed out that he didn’t sign a contract that was a max term.

Now, in between that, Patrick Kane came back to Chicago, and I think you’d have a tough time finding many people who were against that signing, but it felt like the offseason wasn’t well received amongst a lot of the fanbase.

So, after a less-than-satisfactory offseason, how do the Blackhawks begin their training camp in a season when they need progression? They give the keys to the franchise to the face of the team, which leads me to the hockey reasons.

The Hockey Aspect

This is probably what people care about more, and here is why I also think it was great for the on-ice product of the future and present of the team.

Giving Bedard the chance to talk at the press conference and answer a flurry of questions before camp starts allows him to focus on getting back on the ice as quickly as possible. The clips of him skating have looked great so far, but we still aren’t truly sure when he will come back.

When he does return, the first game will be a big deal because he is returning to the lineup, and it’s the first game with the ‘C’ on his jersey, but at least the storyline has moved along to how things are different on the ice. That is where I think bringing Kane in helps make this transition for Bedard much easier.

Back in the last great period of Blackhawks hockey, Jonathan Toews was named captain, making him the third-youngest in NHL history at the time.

For that to be as big a success as it was, Toews needed a good group around him to help him get through tough patches. He had guys like Duncan Keith, Brent Seabrook, and Patrick Sharp, all of whom he mentioned in his retirement press conference helped him.

You know what is interesting about the three players that Toews mentioned? They were all massive contributors to the teams that were counted on to play big roles.

Bedard has had good leaders in his young career, and the first guy that comes to mind is the previous captain, Nick Foligno. While Foligno was a great teammate to learn from for Bedard, he was never as good as Bedard should be in his prime and also never actually won a Stanley Cup.

Kane is probably the best guy Davidson could’ve signed to help mentor him in leadership positions, has experience winning and being important to that team, while also providing production on the ice currently.

This gives Bedard a person to talk to about situations on the ice, how to handle situations in the dressing room and communications with the team and coaching staff.

We haven’t even seen camp open, but I’m starting to get a little bit more excited for this Blackhawks team than I was during the offseason. We’ll have to wait to see how things unfold on the ice, but it was a good start to the season, media-wise, for the Blackhawks.