NEWSLETTER
After sleeping on this overnight and trying to decide how to discuss it, I initially started putting some of this into our Saturday morning Blackhawks bullets. But, as I started writing, it became clear that this needed to stand on its own legs. So here we go…
We’ve seen and heard about other Blackhawks players like Nick Foligno saying their kids are excited about Connor Bedard. When you know a guy on the team, that makes sense. Well, it isn’t exclusively the kids of other Blackhawks. David Perron took his son out of school to meet Bedard before the game in Detroit on Thursday.
Which is why what happened after the Blackhawks practiced on Friday in Winnipeg pisses me off so much. This is Bedard’s first trip back to Western Canada, where he was born and raised and played his junior hockey. When Bedard spoke with the media — because, remember, if he doesn’t make himself available when in Canada some columnist with an axe to grind will whine — a pack of local Winnipeg reporters took it upon themselves to go after the young star about the bullsh** baseless disgusting ugly worthless destructive rumors (that started in Vancouver, by the way). Repeatedly. It made Bedard uncomfortable, frustrated and even had other members of the Winnipeg press questioning their motives yesterday.
Connor Bedard is a good kid. A really good one — on the ice and off it. He’s a gym rat who has that “it gene” that makes greatness, like Crosby and Toews. But he’s also still a kid. And while I can appreciate the “he’s a celebrity he chose the spotlight life” response to an extent, there isn’t a person on the planet who should have to put up with the stupid bullsh** lies that have been spread about his family on social media over the past ten days. It’s pathetic, really. And the fact that one awkward answer wasn’t enough for the Winnipeg media is maybe a subtle reminder to the rest of us why most free agents ignore phone calls from that area code and many can’t sprint out of that market fast enough when their contract expires.
Between the hilarious column when the local columnist couldn’t be bothered to be at practice to speak with Bedard in Toronto to these rumors coming out of Vancouver and now the sad, amateur display by the Winnipeg media, maybe it’s a good thing that Bedard is playing for a team in the United States. Because right now, Canada is showing its collective ass to the next bright light in hockey.
As I hop off that soap box, read this column from Ben Pope. It’s spot on. He’s good at his job and he nailed it here.
