2025 Blackhawks Top 25 Under 25: Connor Bedard is once again No. 1

The 2025 version of Second City Hockey’s Top 25 Under 25 rankings continues with our Top 10, which will contain a lengthier breakdown of each individual who made it into that group.

Connor Bedard

Position: Center

Birth date: July 17, 2005 (19)

Acquired via: First-round pick (1st overall) in 2023 NHL Draft

2024-25 team : Chicago Blackhawks (NHL)

2024-25 stats: 67 points (22 G, 39 A) in 82 games

Size: 5-foot-10, 186 pounds

Contract: One year, $950,000 AAV (entry-level contract)

Rankings: 1 (Everyone)

Last T25U25 ranking: No. 1, no movement

There may not be a person on the planet happier to see the 2024-25 NHL season in their rearview mirror than Connor Bedard.

Someone please ask Connor Bedard if he's okay pic.twitter.com/pjVjRZRt98

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) February 26, 2025

It was a challenging one for the Blackhawks young phenom, with mild steps back in terms of his overall production. Bedard produced 67 points (23 G, 44 A) last season in a full 82 games but was at 61 (22 G, 39 A) in 68 games as a rookie, a pace of about 74 points over a full 82, and that production emerged despite an extra 30 seconds of ice time per game (20:17 last season, 19:47 as a rookie).

One mild encouragement could be the improved shot percentage from 10.7 percent as a rookie to 11.8 percent as an NHL sophomore, but that figure raises another issue: Bedard took just 195 shots last season, 11 fewer than he did as a rookie despite playing in 14 more games. Based on his rate of shots from 2023-24, Bedard should\'ve been up near 250 per season, and someone with a shot like his should probably be amassing well over 300 each season. For context here, Alex Ovechkin\'s career average for shots in an 82-game season is 377. Bedard may not be as prevalent of a goal scorer as him, but the idea here is that shooters shoot, and Bedard wasn\'t shooting anywhere near enough last season.

The microstats over at Corey Sznajder\'s All Three Zones Project from Bedard\'s first two seasons show a decline in 2024-25 as well, as the darker shades of blue evident in the first image below (data from the 2023-24 season) aren\'t as prevalent in the second image (data from 2024-25):

Here\'s one more data source where Bedard\'s numbers took a step down from his rookie season to the prior season:

Now, Connor Bedard has not forgotten how to play hockey. A 67-point season from a teenager feeling like it was a bit of a disappointment overall should be a sign of just how high his ceiling was and still very much is. But he clearly needs some assistance in unlocking his full potential, which is something that shouldn\'t be considered a knock against him -- the NHL is not a league where solo efforts cannot be relied upon as a consistent means of production. And that\'s where some pessimism may still reign a bit as of this writing on the eve of training camp.

Last season, Bedard\'s top three linemates during 5-on-5 play were, in order: Ryan Donato (420:55), Tyler Bertuzzi (366:58) and Ilya Mikheyev (276:04) -- not one player with a similar top-line pedigree as Bedard. In his rookie season it was: Philipp Kurashev (764:13), Nick Foligno (377:13) and Donato again (220:01). Even if Kurashev and Bedard seemed to build some chemistry during that 2023-24 season, it wasn\'t found in 2024-25 and Kurashev is now out in San Jose.

Teuvo Teravainen seems like the perfect choice from this vantage point, given that his hands and vision could help set Bedard up in the prime scoring areas he can find. Frank Nazar could be another candidate, although the team has seem reluctant to put those two on the ice together in the past. Beyond those two, the options get slim in a hurry. Bertuzzi has been a pretty big bust since arriving. Donato is coming off a career season that feels like an anomaly. Andre Burakovsky\'s days for top-line consideration seem behind him, although he may get that option by default here. Perhaps first-round pick Oliver Moore could be attempted here thanks to blazing speed that could open up ice for Bedard, but questions remain about the quality of Moore\'s hands and finishing that cloud his potential as a top-six forward.

Sure, some of this onus falls on Bedard himself, who appeared disinterested at times last season. No reason for long-term concern there yet, but hopefully a new season reinvigorates Bedard so that we get to see goals like the ones he scored against the league\'s current gold standard:

Conner Bedard Scores his 8th and 9th goal of the season. NHL Blackhawks Vs Panthers highlights. Panthers win 4-3. Follow for Bedard highlights on X and YouTube @REALPRIMESPORTS pic.twitter.com/DspqZGMOE9

— PRIME SPORTS CHANNEL (@REALPRIMESPORTS) November 12, 2023

There\'s a new coach in town this year, of course. But the same old question faces Jeff Blashill and the entire Blackhawks organization as we sit about 24 hours away from the first official practice of the season:

Who\'s going to play with Connor Bedard?

2025 Blackhawks Top 25 Under 25 list (so far): No. 2: Frank Nazar No. 3: Alex Vlasic No. 4: Sam Rinzel No. 5: Artyom Levshunov No. 6: Spencer Knight No. 7: Anton Frondell No. 8: Roman Kantersov No. 9: Kevin Korchinski No. 10: Oliver Moore No. 11-15: Lardis, Del Mastro, Kaiser, Boisvert, Reichel No. 16-20: Dach, Nestrasil, Commesso, Greene, Vanacker Nos. 21-25: Allan, Slaggert, Behm, Spellacy, Mustard Honorable Mentions: Pridham, Savoie, West

Connor Bedard

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