Denis Savard hasn’t had the chance to have a good conversation with Connor Bedard yet. The two met briefly at the funeral of Rocky Wirtz, the owner of the Chicago Blackhawks at the time of his unexpected death last July.
• Also read: 43 years after Denis Savard, here is Connor Bedard
Just like his father with Patrick Kane, Wirtz will not have had the opportunity to see the first pick of last June’s draft play with his team. Bill Wirtz died in September 2007, three months after the Blackhawks drafted Kane.
Savard’s antennae in the organization tell him that Bedard is the type of person who is completely dedicated to his job.
“I was told that he is always in the arena, that he never wants to leave the ice and that he is always watching hockey games,” he says.
Never enough ice hockey
The same thing was said about Sidney Crosby in his early days. Crosby also lived in Mario Lemieux’s mansion, located in Montreal’s Westmount in Pittsburgh. He had a floor to himself.
Savard is impressed with what he saw from Bedard in his first two games in Pittsburgh and Boston.
“When he’s on the ice, you see that something can happen,” he said.
“In Pittsburgh, the Penguins essentially isolated a player against him during the Hawks’ power plays. For a little guy of 18, that’s strong!”
Two young Hawks defensemen also caught Savard’s attention, in this case defensemen Kevin Korchinski and Wyatt Kaiser.
Korchinski was drafted seventh in 2022, while Kaiser was selected in the third round in 2020.
“The future promises good things for our team,” says Savard.
“We are in the games and the boys are working hard. Luke Richardson is doing a good job behind the bench.”