Mark Messier Puts Connor Bedard On Blast For His Recent Defensive Efforts
The Chicago Blackhawks have struggled as a team defensively this season, and now NHL legend Mark Messier has singled out Connor Bedard for his efforts, with major question marks now continuing to come out about his potential on that end of the ice.
This season has been an underwhelming one in Chicago, even for their low expectations, with many people calling out Connor Bedard in his second season for many different reasons.
Now, NHL legend Mark Messier has been added to that list, as he called out Bedard's lack of effort on the defensive end as the team fell to the Florida Panthers 2-1.
Fellow analyst P.K. Subban went on to agree with Messier, citing Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon and Connor McDavid as players that dealt with tough love when they arrived in the NHL, with all three transforming their game to be difference makers on the defensive end.
However, what Messier overlooked was the overall defensive struggles of the team, as even the veterans on the team have not looked engaged defensively, and if that's the case, it's tough for the 19-year old to up his game on that end of the ice.
Ultimately, Bedard is the leader of this team and was tagged as a generational prospect, and with that hype comes expectation, so while it's tough to expect a 19-year old to transform his game this early, this is the type of criticism that he expected coming into the league as the No. 1 overall pick, so now, he's got to work on that side of his game to become a true star.
