Dave Melton of Second City Hockey joins “9 Good Minutes” to talk about the start of the Blackhawks 2023-2024 season & the first games for No. 1 overall pick Connor Bedard.

CHICAGO — It’s a very, very small sample size, but already there have been some rave reviews about the play of the Blackhawks’ No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.

After all, Connor Bedard got two major firsts out of the way in his first two games with the franchise, while also showing a few glimpses of what could be to come.

But, again, it’s just two games, and the hope is that the center will continue to grow his game to reach his full potential as the face of a new era of Blackhawks’ hockey.

Yet there are other things that fans should be looking at as the team takes another step towards building a winner. Bedard is one of the early pieces to a new core that can try to repeat the success that the 2010s team enjoyed thanks in big part to talent that came up from within the organization.

Kevin Korchinski, the first draft pick made by general manager Kyle Davidson, who initiated the rebuild in March 2022, also made his debut in a win over the Penguins and loss to the Bruins. There are also other young players who are developing while a number of veterans show them the ropes of the NHL.

Progress, and probably not playoffs, remains the goal of Luke Richardson’s second team over the next six months.

Dave Melton of Second City Hockey joined WGN News Now’s “9 Good Minutes” to discuss the very early career of Bedard and the 2023-2024 Blackhawks. You can watch his discussion with Larry Hawley in the video above.