Connor Bedard sent a warning to the entire NHL about the Chicago Blackhawks in his exit interview.
The Blackhawks ended their season on a high note by winning four out of their last six games of the year, but it was too little too late for Connor Bedard's team.
With only 25 wins this season, the Hawks once again finished in the last position of the Central Division and will get interesting odds for the draft lottery.
A new identity for the Chicago Blackhawks next season
After many years of getting high draft picks, the Hawks have one of the deepest prospect pools in the entire league. A lot of young, talented players will make the team next season. Some of them even played some games at the final stretch of the season, such as Artyom Levshunov, Oliver Moore, Sam Rinzel, Kevin Korchinski, and Frank Nazar.
These are all talented, fast, and smart players. The organization has all it takes to build strong foundations for a winning team.
In post-game comments a few days ago, Connor Bedard talked about how the team will be ready to reach another level next season and build an identity based on the team's speed:
'Some of the guys are pretty quick, it's hard to keep up sometimes. Frank and Mooresy and Mikky, you can go down, Greener can wheel - there's a lot of speed. That's going to be our identity.'
An optimistic vision for the future of the Hawks
The Hawks will be an interesting team to follow this summer, as they'll likely be looking to make several additions on the trade market or in free agency.
But what could be the biggest factor is the development of the young players already in the organization.
At only 19 years old, Connor Bedard knows he still has much to learn before developing into an NHL superstar. He wants to work to get better, and even seems excited to get into it:
'If you get the first overall pick, you're probably not winning the (Stanley) Cup the next two years. It's an understanding of where you're at. You're going out there to win every game but at the end, you know we're in a process of growing and learning, and that's an exciting time. When you lose, it makes winning a lot sweeter once you get there. So, we're excited for that.''It was great to see a lot of guys' growth and see what the future can hold. It was a lot of fun to get to play with these guys. It was kind of growing up with these guys and keep improving.'
The team could be a year or two from having a breakout season, which will mark a new era in the Chicago Blackhawks franchise.
