Mark Messier calls out Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks Head Coach
Connor Bedard has plenty to learn at the NHL level, and after questionable play on the defensive end, NHL legend Mark Messier has called out him and Anders Sorenson after some questionable play against the Florida Panthers.
While Connor Bedard has always excelled offensively as a hockey player, he's had plenty of learning to do defensively since joining the Chicago Blackhawks, and in recent times, he's shown that he's still got growing to do on that end of the ice.
That struggle was on full display against the Florida Panthers, with many on social media calling him out for his lack of effort as the team fell 2-1 in a dramatic contest, with his defensive game coming under further scrutiny.
It wasn't just social media, however, as Mark Messier called out the 19-year-old on ESPN after the game, noting that in his eyes, Bedard feels entitled to ice time and that may be destroying the morale of the team around him.
«There's no quicker way to destroy the morale of a team than to have players who don't earn their ice time.»
On one hand, Bedard needs the tough love that so many stars before him like Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon, and Connor McDavid have had to deal with, but on the other hand, the veterans around Bedard haven't excelled defensively either, so it's tough to single out the 19-year old for the way he's played.
Offensively, Bedard accounts for the majority of the offense that Chicago gets on a nightly basis, but with the generational tag that was placed on him before his draft, the expectations were always going to be high, so he needs to take this board from Mark Messier and work on his 200ft game before he becomes a genuine star in the NHL.
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