Connor Bedard's journey from junior phenom to top NHL draft pick nearly complete

Connor Bedard was about to jet off to a sunny destination.

He wasn't happy about it.

With minor hockey tryouts just around the corner, Bedard — the projected No. 1 pick at next week's NHL draft, but at the time simply a youngster with big dreams — begrudgingly agreed to his family's Hawaiian vacation.

There was a caveat: a couple of extra items needed to be packed, namely some sticks and his in-line skates.

"He didn't really want to go," Tom Bedard, Connor's dad, recalled with a laugh. "Only gone 10 days or something, but for him that was a lot.

"Not thrilled."

When the Bedards rolled up to the airport, the stick bag set to be loaded on a plane heading to a chain of islands in the Pacific Ocean raised some eyebrows.

And once they arrived in paradise — Tom, wife Melanie, daughter Madisen, and Connor — the hockey-mad youngster quickly laced up and hit the seawall.

"He was flying around," Tom Bedard said in an interview with The Canadian Press. "We eventually got our beach time. It was a fun trip... once he chilled a little."

WATCH | Bedard scores thrilling OT winner at world juniors:

The family is about to embark on another journey.

Connor Bedard, the 17-year-old Regina Pats phenom who has turned heads since he was 11 and tore the Western Hockey League to pieces this season with 143 points in 57 games, is as safe a bet as possible to be selected No. 1 by Chicago at the NHL draft in Nashville on Wednesday.

"A lot of work put in," Bedard said. "It's pretty exciting."

The top-ranked North American skater, who took home a boatload of individual honours in 2022-23, has drawn comparisons to the game's generational talents, including Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid.

"Pretty cool to hear that, but I don't pay