Bedard led Chicago in scoring in each of his first two seasons. The 20-year-old had 61 points (22 goals, 39 assists) in 68 games in 2023-24 when he was voted the Calder Trophy winner as the NHL rookie of the year. He then had 67 points (23 goals, 44 assists) in 82 games last season.
For Blashill, who saw Florida plenty as an assistant for the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2022-25, telling Bedard to watch the Panthers was a way to connect with his star player soon after being hired as coach in May instead of waiting until September.
“What are those things? Florida does a really good job of tracking back and reloading hard, and they don’t wait for offense and hope the [defense] turns the puck over,” Blashill said. “They’re a five-man connected unit and those are things we want to be. Those are things that I value.
“I thought it was a good start for us to just kind of talk about some of those things hockey-wise and make sure he knew coming in. I didn’t want to come in on Day 1 and start yelling at him, ‘Hey you have to do this better.’ I wanted to explain to him what we’re talking about. He has good insight, he watched and totally agreed, and he understands what I was talking about.”
Bedard zeroed in on a few aspects of Florida’s play. He focused on now-injured center Aleksander Barkov’s game for positioning because “I feel he’s never out of position.” Bedard was also impressed with how connected the Panthers were.
“I think you hear it so much — like you only have the puck on your stick for, in a good game it’s a minute,” Bedard said. “So, you have however many minutes you’re not playing [with the puck] and to be in the right spots, to go get it or make a play defensively, offensively. That’s something that I can improve on, and you see the best teams do.”
Blashill has plenty of experience helping young players develop their game. Detroit Red Wings center Dylan Larkin, whom Blashill coached while with the Red Wings from 2015-22, is one of them. After Larkin signed his entry-level contract with Detroit on May 21, 2015, he got a call from Blashill, then coach of Grand Rapids, the Red Wings’ American Hockey League affiliate, to join its playoff run.
“Talking to him at the end of that playoff series, he told me to go work out with a couple of [the Red Wings’] leaders on our team and go to a gym in Detroit, and I did it and that benefitted me,” Larkin said of Blashill. “There were times I didn’t like what he was saying, but looking back now they were important lessons and valuable experience for me.”