Chicago Blackhawks interim head coach frustrated on lack of calls for Connor Bedard

This season has presented many challenges for the Chicago Blackhawks both on and off the ice. Many key forwards on the roster have gone through their respective scoring slumps this year, which is expected for a squad that is currently positioned in second-to-last place in the entire league. Connor Bedard has managed to put up solid numbers despite going through two scoring droughts in his second NHL season.

The 19-year-old phenom went 13 games without finding the back of the net in late-October through late-November and a seven game pointless stretch within the past month. Bedard has 20 goals and 36 assists (56 points) in 72 games.

Bedard has the chance to break 25 goals this season despite his two major stretches not getting on the stat sheet. He was robbed of an opportunity to produce more as a rookie with his jaw injury forcing him to miss 14 games a season ago. Bedard still took home the Calder Trophy last year and the hope is the adversity he has fought through this season can lead to a major leap in the fall.

Chicago Blackhawks frustrated on lack of calls for Connor Bedard

One theme that has stayed consistent for Bedard in each of his two professional seasons is that he hasn’t gotten the benefit of the doubt from officials across the NHL. He and the veterans around him have been visibly frustrated throughout the season over this and interim head coach Anders Sorensen spoke out on the matter after Wednesday’s home loss to the Devils.

“I just don’t know what to gain out of it,” Sorensen said. “They’ve made their call; they’re probably not going to change it. You can try to talk to them in TV timeouts to get an explanation that way instead. Coming across yelling is probably not going to help the sitution, right? Try to build a relationship and talk to them – I think that will go a longer way down the road.”

Bedard will get these calls to go his way at some point in his young career, but it’s just frustrating that he isn’t getting them in the moment. Opposing teams have targeted him in certain games in his career so far and they haven’t tried to hide it. Luckily for Bedard this season, the front office went out and brought in players like Patrick Maroon and Tyler Bertuzzi to make the team much more physical for his second NHL season.

Connor Bedard and the youth movement have played well

Bedard has clicked extremely well with fellow young forward Frank Nazar this season since he was called up in December. The two have played on the same line for most of 2025 and the results have followed in big ways. Nazar netted a goal in the final minutes of Wednesday’s home loss on the man-advantage to make it a one-goal game at the time.

The case has been made for Nazar to join Chicago’s top power-play unit to close out the season, and a lot of that is due to how well he plays with Bedard. Other young forwards like Landon Slaggert and Colton Dach have been getting consistent run at the NHL level as of late and have held their own on both sides of the ice.