NHL rookie Connor Bedard is making a big splash for the Chicago Blackhawks and the league, which could benefit sports bettors backing him and also at least one public company.
What Happened: Bedard entered the 2023-2024 NHL season as one of the highest rated prospects in years.
The 18-year-old was the number one overall draft pick in the 2023 NHL Draft, selected by the Chicago Blackhawks, who had an 11.5% chance of winning the top pick in the NHL Draft Lottery. The team managed to pass the Anaheim Ducks (18.5%) and Columbus Blue Jackets (13.5%) in the luck department to land the potential generational talent.
Bedard’s talent has been on display early in the 23-24 NHL season with the Blackhawks’ forward having an assist in his first game and a goal in his second game. Through two games, Bedard now has two points, 11 shots on goal and is averaging over 21 minutes on ice per game.
NHL fans are tuning in. Tuesday’s opening night NHL match between the Blackhawks and Penguins set a league record as the highest watched regular season NHL game on cable excluding the Winter Classic matches.
The game, which aired on ESPN, averaged 1.43 million viewers.
ESPN, owned by Walt Disney Company DIS, had a triple header of NHL games to kick off the season Tuesday night with an earlier game (Nashville Predators, Tampa Bay Lightning) averaging 598,000 viewers and a late night match (Seattle Kraken, Las Vegas Golden Knights) averaging 691,000 viewers.
Overall, the three NHL games on ESPN averaged 909,000 viewers, which was up 40% over last year’s double header to kick off the season.
The Blackhawks second game of the season against the Boston Bruins on Wednesday aired on TNT, a unit of Warner Bros. Discovery WBD, with viewership figures not currently available.
ESPN has the rights to several of the next Blackhawks games and could benefit from early interest in the NHL rookie.
Another company that could benefit is apparel company Lululemon Athletica LULU, which signed Bedard to an endorsement deal back in June.
Lululemon will serve as the exclusive apparel partner of Bedard and the prospect will wear training and lifestyle gear from the company and support the brand with feedback.
“Being from Vancouver, I’ve been a fan of Lululemon for as long as I can remember. The gear is so comfortable, stylish, and great for training,” Bedard said at the time.
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Betting on Bedard: The Blackhawks finished the 2022-2023 season with 26 wins, 49 losses, 7 overtime losses record and ranked tied for second for the worst record in the NHL.
Not many bettors will be backing the Blackhawks to win the Stanley Cup or win their division. Current odds on DraftKings Inc DKNG have the Blackhawks listed at the second-worst odds to win the Stanley Cup at +20,000 (paying a $200 profit on a $1 bet).
The bet that many NHL and Blackhawks fans might be watching is the Calder Trophy, which is awarded to the top rookie in the league.
Bedard is listed as the favorite at odds of -175, which means a $100 bet would pay out a profit of $57.14 for bettors.
The NHL rookie scored 71 goals and had 143 points in 57 games for the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League in the 2022-2023 season. Bedard has also been a key part of Team Canda is the junior tournaments, scoring 30 goals and 57 points across 27 games for the U-18 and World Junior Classic.
Bedard was also one of only seven players to receive exceptional player status in Canada, allowing him to play a full season as a 15-year-old.
Other trophies that bettors could see Bedard having a shot at winning are the Hart Trophy and Rocket Richard, which are awarded to the most valuable player and the league’s top goalscorer, respectively.
Bedard has odds of +6,000 and +6,500 to win the Hart and Rocket Richard Trophy respectively, paying out potential profits of $6,000 and $6,500 respectively.
Bettors will also look to back Bedard to score a goal in his upcoming games, with past odds of +150 and +250 in his first two games, meaning a bettor who bet on Bedard to score a goal in each of his first two games would still be profitable.
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