The Blackhawks' improvement in 2024-25 will depend on the improvement of Connor Bedard

The two predominant storylines surrounding Connor Bedard during Blackhawks training camp were the stronger supporting cast around him and the relative dimming of the spotlight on him.

But while both things are true, these caveats also apply: Bedard's supporting cast still isn't that good and he's still in the spotlight.

The Hawks' final home practice on Monday – before traveling to Utah for the season opener on Tuesday – made that clear.

Bedard ran on an unprecedented front line with Teuvo Teravainen and Ilya Mikheyev, two summer additions who finished third and ninth in points, respectively, with their former teams last season. Then Bedard went to the locker room and answered questions before a scrum of reporters from nearly every Chicago news outlet.

“We obviously struggled last year and we all came out of it with a slap on the back, so there are a lot of things we can improve on,” he said, adding another example to the list of boring answers he joked that he rehearsed at home this summer.

After all, the Hawks' teenage superstar is just a year away from entering the NHL as one of the most anticipated and scrutinized prospects of all time. He did nothing to calm spirits or lower the sky-high expectations for his future last season, leading the Hawks in scoring and winning the Calder Trophy.

The Hawks' season-opening road trip to Salt Lake City, Winnipeg, Edmonton and Calgary might not stack up against the 2023-24 season-opening contest in Pittsburgh, Boston, Montreal and Toronto, four huge markets where the pressure could be on Bedard. I registered it on a barometric scale.

But there's a specific reason the league chose to feature the Hawks in ESPN's first tripleheader and Utah's first game at the same time: They get huge TV ratings. Winnipeg is also the place where Bedard faced his toughest media test as a rookie when he was unfairly harassed by reporters over the false Corey Perry rumors. Edmonton, home of Connor McDavid, could be the NHL's toughest ice test.

Immediately following that trip, the Hawks return to Chicago to face the Sharks in their home opener, with Bedard and Macklin Celebrini – the last two No. 1 overall picks – comfortably competing.

Throughout that span, as well as the 77 games thereafter, a combination of Teravainen, Tyler Bertuzzi, Taylor Hall, Philipp Kurashev and Mikheyev will serve as Bedard's front-line wingers and power-play teammates.

That's a stronger lineup than last season, when Kurashev, Nick Foligno, Ryan Donato, Lukas Reichel and Anthony Beauvillier spent most of their time on the ice with Bedard, but it's far from stacked either. The Hawks' opponent will field a far more intimidating, talented and well-known top six on most nights.

So it's fair to say that the Hawks' improvement this season is directly related to Bedard's improvement. In other words, the Hawks will go as far as the 19-year-old takes them.

That goal won't be the playoffs, and it may not even be that far away. Thirty wins seems like a reasonable expectation for coach Luke Richardson's team this season considering the Hawks only won 23 last season, but that would still put them among the bottom five or 10 teams in the league .

Still, the Hawks need to finally make progress this season, and Bedard will be the one to lead that climb.

“(My goals are) just for us to improve,” he said Monday. “It's difficult to pinpoint a specific score for our group (on paper). “But if we do what we're capable of, we have a chance to win every night. “That’s all you can really do.”