Blackhawks Connor Bedard Wins Calder Trophy

Bedard, the NHL's heralded No. 1 draft pick in 2023, becomes ninth Chicago player to win trophy as league's rookie of the year.

As expected, Chicago Blackhawks center Connor Bedard was named the Calder Trophy winner as the NHL's rookie of the year for the 2023-24 season at the league's annual awards ceremony in Las Vegas on Thursday.

The 18-year-old Bedard beat out two defenseman finalists, Minnesota's Brock Faber and New Jersey's Luke Hughes. The Calder is one of several awards selected by members of the Professional Hockey Writers' Association (PHWA).

Bedard finished with 1,808 points in PHWA voting, including 152 first-place votes. Faber came on strong in second with 1,464 points and the remaining 42 first-place votes. Hughes had 686 points.

Bedard received unprecedented publicity and attention as the NHL's No. 1 draft pick in 2023 and he followed with 22 goals, 39 assists and 61 points in 68 games for Chicago last season to lead all rookie scorers. He also led first-year players with 206 shots on goal, a Blackhawks rookie record.

A native of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Bedard would have been on pace for 73 points had he not missed 14 games with a broken jaw, suffered on Jan. 5 from an open-ice hit in New Jersey.

Bedard is technically the ninth Blackhawks player to win the Calder since it was designated to honor "the National Hockey League player judged to be the most proficient in his first season" starting in 1937. A 10th Blackhawk, goalie Mike Karakas, was named the NHL's top rookie for 1935-36, one year before the Calder was officially attached to that recognition.

Bedard is the youngest Blackhawks player and second teenager to win the award. Patrick Kane won it in 2008 at age 19.

Joins Prestigious Group

The most recent previous Blackhawks Calder winner was Artemi Panarin in 2016. Kane, Chicago's only other No. 1 overall draft pick (in 2007) also captured the Calder for the following season (2007-08). See the full list and history of the Blackhawks Calder winners in the story in the following link:

Billed as "hockey's next generational talent," Bedard joins the likes of Toronto's Auston Matthews (2017), Colorado's Nathan MacKinnon (2014) and Kane as rookies with that reputation to win the Calder.

Ironically, the most prolific "next generational talent" in recent years,  Edmonton center Connor McDavid, didn't capture the Calder in 2016 because he missed 37 games as a rookie in 2015-16 with a broken collarbone. McDavid is a five- time NHL scoring leader and on Monday netted the 2024 Conn Smyth Trophy as playoff MVP.

Pittsburgh star Sidney Crosby, one of Bedard's role models, finished second in voting after a 2005-06 rookie season despite scoring 39 goals and 102 points. "Sid the Kid" was beaten out by another future Hall-of-Famer, Washington's Alex Ovechkin, who posted 52 goals and 106 points.