Not too long ago, words like ‘generational talent’ were floating around when discussing Connor Bedard. Reaching the 100-points milestone in just 112 games only played into that hype, but things took a turn. Right now, the Chicago Blackhawks are languishing in the basement of the Central division, while Bedard doesn’t look like someone who can pull them out.

Blackhawks beat reporter Ben Pope put things into perspective regarding the 19-year-old’s downturn. “The Blackhawks have scored 16 goals the last 3 games yet Connor Bedard has 0 points, which is wild,” Pope posted on social media. While head coach Anders Sorensen doesn’t see much of a problem with Bedard’s sophomore slump, the fans do.

Sorensen dismissed any worries about Connor Bedard not finding the net. “He knows he’s getting chances; he knows he’s setting up some chances,” said the head coach, but fans straight up disagreed. “He ain’t getting any chances at all, he’s way too slow,” one fan commented in direct contradiction of the coach’s statement.

However, in the eyes of his coach, Bedard is at least making the right moves on the ice. “Last game, there were a couple of plays they were a half a play away,” the Swedish coach added as per Pope’s post. The only problem? Despite making those right moves, the Blackhawks star has been unable to send the puck into the net.

Connor Bedard failed to score even when the Blackhawks thrashed the L.A. Kings 5-1. Goalie Spencer Knight stole the show instead, saving a massive 41 out of the 42 shots on goal. In fact, Bedard even praised his new teammate. “Obviously super talented, so we’re excited to have him.” said Bedard. Yet, the fans were far from excited about Bedard’s performance and chalked out one big flaw.

Where Connor Bedard is falling behind

Unlike Coach Sorensen, the fans had plenty to say about where the NHL player was going wrong. “I realize that Bedard is just 19 and playing on a horrible team, but he was terrible in the Kings game—terrible in all three zones. He should visit Donato’s skating coach in the offseason. He needs to get faster, stronger, smarter,” the fan commented.

The netizen wasn’t wrong to point to Ryan Donato as someone Bedard could look to emulate. Not only has Donato been successful in front of the goal for the Blackhawks, he reached the 100th career goal milestone against the Ottawa Senators tonight. Yet, the fan was quite harsh in his conclusion about Connor Bedard, saying, “Forget generational; I don’t even see all-star.”

Others made a similar observation. The 19-year-old is far from the biggest player any time he’s on the ice. So one fan suggested exactly where he needs to improve. “I think it’s his speed/skating. He gets chances but it’s easy to get a body on him. If he adds some skating ability like Nazar or big name guys like Hughes etc. He will be number 1 in the league,” hypothesized the fan.

The Frank Nazar references didn’t stop with just one comment. “People love to hate me for it, but he needs to get faster to offset lack of size and strength. He’ll be a weapon out there if he gets anywhere as fast as Nazar,” the fan wrote. The ground of commonality among the players that the fan brought up in the comment was that they were both Connor Bedard’s teammates.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have similarly good things to say about the Chicago Blackhawks coach. “This is such a boring coach,” one individual remarked. What’s worse is that the fans aren’t the only ones finding flaws in Coach Sorensen’s outlook toward Bedard’s slump. Analysts believe the NHL star himself may rethink his future with the Blackhawks if things get too bad.

“I think Connor Bedard wants to be on a winning team and if he thinks that this team is being mismanaged to high hell over the next two to three years, I think he’s gonna be the guy to be like, get me out of here.” sportswriter Greg Wyshynski said on the latest episode of Jeff Marek’s The Sheet podcast. So what’s your take on the Connor Bedard situation? Tell us in the comments.