The Connor Bedard-Caleb Williams Connection

If anyone cared about the Hawks, the whole town would see some very strong similarities from the two who would be king.

With the Hawks returning to training camp today, it's important to stress that it is as it's always been. The most important aspect of the Hawks rebuild, the project, is whether or not Connor Bedard is going to be in the absolute, top-tier of NHL centers. If he isn't, the whole thing collapses. Then it's about whether Anton Frondell can be a top-10 center in the league (very few see that), and the Hawks have to reset the clock waiting for that to happen instead of the one they're on with seeing if Bedard can be one. Or they have to find one elsewhere, and maybe wait reset for that clock. Every other question is moot if the Hawks don't have an anchor at the 1C spot.

Which is exactly the same kind of stuff you're hearing about Caleb Williams up in Lake Forest right now. If he's not what was promised, none of the other ass-load of questions around the Bears matters. If a team can't answer the main question, they can't worry about the ancillary ones.

The parallels between Bedard and Williams are actually getting a little eerie. Both were called saviors for a couple of years before they even got to their drafts. Both achieved huge successes in the "amateur" ranks (Williams's USC days weren't really amateur), as Williams won a Heisman and Bedard took over a WJC. Both got new head coaches in their second year. Both have had decent success in the pros, but not what was expected from the word go. And both face some questions now about what their future hold, exactly.

There is more. With their struggles in their first steps in the pro game, greater scrutiny of what they did in their pre-draft days seems natural. Williams's USC teams were only middling in a non-SEC/Big 10 conference, and in fact, barely cleared .500 his last year in LA. While Bedard's WHL numbers are dizzying, his last Regina team barely snuck into the playoffs and were out in the first round of the playoffs. The previous season, the Pats finished dead-ass last. At least Bedard is used to it, I guess.

Compared with what his contemporaries, or the players that are supposed to be his contemporaries, did in their junior or college days, Bedard's WHL teams struggles to achieve anything look a little curious. Connor McDavid's team went to the OHL Final. Nathan MacKinnon's QMJHL team went to the Memorial Cup while losing only six games during the regular season. Jack Eichel went to the championship game with BU. Macklin Celebrini, who very well might become the Jayden Daniels to Bedard's Williams, took his BU team to the Frozen Four. Is there some sort of "popcorn" value to Bedard's junior numbers?

Before any Canadian writer starts shrieking about Bedard's last WJC excellence, the WJC is a short tournament with only two or three games against any real teams. So pipe down, rub-a-dub.

Both Williams and Bedard have come to the pros and dealt with coaches that didn't really know what to do with them, at least for a time. Whereas Williams's rookie year was completely marred by a woefully unequipped coaching staff, it seemed like Luke Richardson knew what he was doing at first. Then last season began with Bedard taking defensive zone faceoffs late in close games, the Hawks playing as conservative as possible, and suddenly Bedard was on his second coach, just like Williams is now.

After getting enough of a look, both of their fundamentals are getting harder looks than anyone would have guessed when they were taken #1 overall. It's Williams's footwork and processingto take over games. While Williams certainly doesn't have to worry about a positional switch that might come Bedard's way in the next year or two, recategorizing what kind of QB he might be isn't all that different.

It's also an open question whether both have landed in situations that they never could have survived. The dysfunction, incompetence, and downright comedic mismanagement of the Bears at every level is NFL and Chicago canon at this point. On the field, Williams was put behind a loose piece of twine of an offensive line. Bedard has rarely, if ever, had a shift alongside any winger who could play or think the game anywhere near his level. That will most likely continue this season.

With both taking longer to hit the heights that were promised for years before they were pros, the direction of both of their teams is in serious question. If Williams never "clicks," never is able to blend his raw talent, athleticism, and creativity with a new-found assuredness in the pocket and efficiency, then the Bears can't really go anywhere, Even finding a new QB, a system-fitter for Ben Johnson, probably puts a ceiling on what the Bears can be. If Bedard can't find 95+ points and 50+ goals, not just once but consistently, and do so by finding an improved playmaking gear to marry with his unmatchable shot and perhaps fighting his defensive duties to a draw at best, the Hawks are just always going to be short of true contention.

Bedard hasn't faced near the amount of personality questions that Williams gets, and you don't need to do much more than look at pictures of the two to see why, but that doesn't mean he hasn't at all. His personality on the ice does get a look, at times. Is he aggressive enough? Is he tough enough to get into the corners and down low at his size? Does he back off at times? His dedication has never been put in question, obviously, and at least Richardson didn't run to some Substack jockey to anonymously trash Bedard to try and save his rep, however.

Both of them, and the Hawks and Bears, have a ton riding on the next few months. The outlook for all four could be anything come April 2026. Nothing is ever simple in this town.