It’s been a good start to the highly-anticipated career of Connor Bedard. He had an assist on the first goal of the Blackhawks’ season in his NHL debut, and followed that performance with his first career NHL goal in Boston the following night. That’s two points in two games — we’re going streaking!
Look, it’s only been two games. I’m the first person to pump the breaks on crazy hyperbole when talking about prospects and future stars. But…
Since we’re in love with the idea of the latest being the greatest and the newest being the best ever, I thought I’d do a little digging to see what the longest point streaks are in NHL and Blackhawks history.
The longest point streak to start an NHL career in the history of the Chicago Blackhawks belongs to Jonathan Toews. He famously scored his first goal on his first shot in the NHL — exactly 16 years to the day before Bedard made his first appearance in the NHL. Toews went on to have a point in the first ten games of his career (five goals, five assists).
After watching those two video clips, my immediate 🐬thought is: Thank God for high definition!
What about NHL history? Well, there isn’t even pixelated old film that I can find of the longest career-opening point streak in NHL history. That belongs to Joe Malone, who produced 35 goals and 2 assists in the first 14 games of his NHL career. 35 and 2? Talk about one-dimensional! Malone did it for the Montreal Canadiens during the 1917-18 season.
More recently, Dmitri Kvartalnov tied Malone’s record with the Boston Bruins during the 1992-93 season. He had 12 goals and 10 assists in his first 14 games.
In the same season Malone established the record, Cy Denneny recorded a point in his first 12 games (23 goals, 5 assists) for the origina🌟l Ottawa Senators. In 1988-89, Joe Sakic of the Quebec Nordiques had a point in his first 12 games (10 goals, 7 assists).
Those are the only four career-starting point streaks in NHL history longer than Toews’ 10-game streak.
To catch Toews’ franchise record, Bedard would need to register a point in every game through the Hawks’ game against the Florida Panthers on Nov. 4 at the United Center. He would need to put a point on the board in every game through the Tampa Bay Lightning game at the UC on Nov. 16 to tie the all-time record of 14 games.
If Bedard can pull that remarkable feat off, he would need a point in Nashville — the city in which the Blackhawks called his name at the 2023 NHL Draft — on Saturday, Nov. 18 for a 15-game point streak.
