Chasing Greatness: Are Connor Bedard’s Early Years Better Than Patrick Kane’s?
Connor Bedard didn’t find the back of the net in Monday night’s game against the Sharks despite logging seven shots, but with a secondary assist, it was another night in the points column for the 20-year-old. With the assist, he reached 200 points in his 215th career game, the seventh-fastest to reach the mark in Chicago Blackhawks history.
That 215 number happened to be the exact same as the amount it took Patrick Kane to hit that mark. It’s not the first time that Bedard and Kane have been tied in the record books like this—for example, each had 146 points in his first 164 games played. In fact, their stat lines are eerily similar:
It’s somewhat surprising that Bedard has more goals at this point than Kane—it feels like he’s been more of a playmaker than a pure scorer. The comparisons certainly don’t stop there. Bedard was a few months younger when he was drafted first overall than Kane was when he was taken at the top of the 2007 NHL Draft.
But who was better in their first 215 games? It’s hard to say. On one hand, Kane was drafted into a way better situation, with players like Patrick Sharp, Jonathan Toews, Duncan Keith, and Brent Seabrook already in the lineup. By comparison, the 2023-24 Blackhawks were pretty bleak—Seth Jones was probably the biggest star, with Philipp Kurashev being the only other player with more than 37 points (54).
On the other hand, Kane’s teams obviously had way more success, picking up 40 wins in his rookie year to Bedard’s 23. We’re also seeing a slight uptick in scoring leaguewide from when Kane was a teenager due to a variety of factors.
So where do we land on the Bedard/Kane debate? The answer is that it’s too early to tell. For now, I’d give the edge to Bedard because he’s done more with less, being thrown into a tougher situation and keeping pace in scoring. But we won’t know the real answer until Bedard has a real linemate, like how Kane started with Toews and Sharp for a while early in his career. Is Anton Frondell that answer? Roman Kantserov? Maybe even Frank Nazar? Once Chicago can work out that question, we’ll be able to answer the question everyone will eventually be asking. Who’s better: Bedard or Kane?