Bedard and Celebrini: two young captains, two very different Octobers

Saturday afternoon in Boston, Connor Bedard had the Blackhawks on the edge of a statement win. His backhand with 7:40 left in the third period made it 4-2 Chicago. He had already set up Anton Frondell's power-play goal in the first. Six shots on goal, 22:07 of ice time, a new captain doing captain things.

Then it slipped away. Mason Lohrei answered 46 seconds later. Morgan Geekie tied it with 12 seconds left in regulation, and Elias Lindholm won it 2:32 into overtime. Bruins 5, Blackhawks 4.

That afternoon is a fair summary of Chicago's first month: better with Bedard, not good enough yet. It is also half of one of the best storylines in the league this fall. Two young stars. Two No. 1 picks. Two brand-new captains. Two very different Octobers.

Two captains, ten days apart

Chicago went first. On Sept. 15 the Blackhawks named Bedard, 21, captain, the second-youngest in team history behind only Jonathan Toews. His message was short: "we expect to win," he told NHL.com.

Ten days later, San Jose handed the C to Macklin Celebrini, 20. He is the youngest captain in Sharks history and the youngest current captain in the NHL. Joe Thornton, the former Sharks captain he lived with as a rookie, was part of the reveal.

Both teams paid up before they handed out letters. Bedard signed a five-year extension in July with a $15 million cap hit that runs through 2030-31. Celebrini followed with a five-year deal worth $94 million, or $18.8 million a year, which Bleacher Report noted makes him the league's highest-paid forward by average annual value.

The draft history explains the stakes. Bedard went first overall in 2023 and won the Calder Trophy as a rookie. Celebrini went first overall in 2024. Chicago has not made the playoffs since 2019-20. San Jose's drought is seven straight seasons. Both franchises are betting the next five years on these two.

Bedard: back early, and the difference shows

Bedard's summer went sideways on July 2, when he hurt his left shoulder skating in Vancouver. He had surgery on July 8, and the team physician's timeline was about four months, which pointed to a return in early-to-mid November.

He beat it by weeks. Chicago activated him on Oct. 13, and that night he set up a power-play goal in a 5-3 win over Pittsburgh at the United Center.

The split since then is hard to miss. Without him, the Blackhawks opened 1-5-0. Since he came back they are 3-4-1. That still adds up to a 4-9-1 record, but the losses look different now. The Boston game was a one-goal overtime loss on the road against a team that is 10-4-1.

His own line through 8 games:

• 9 points (4 goals, 5 assists), with a point in 7 of the 8 games
• A five-game point streak heading into tonight
• 24 shots on goal, 13 of them in his last three games
• 20:30 of ice time a night, close to the 20:52 he averaged last season

That last season is the bar. Bedard's best year so far was 2025-26: 75 points, 30 of them goals, across 69 games, more than anyone else in Chicago. He has also started to share the load. Frondell scored twice in Boston, and the first one came off a Bedard feed.

Celebrini: chasing a historic encore

Celebrini's second season was one of the best in Sharks history. He played every game, scored 45 times, added 70 assists and finished with 115 points, one more than the franchise record of 114 that Thornton had held. San Jose jumped from 20 wins to 39. Across his first two NHL seasons he has 178 points in 152 games.

So the bar for year three was set high, and he set a team goal to match. "Make the playoffs," he told NBC Bay Area in September.

Through 13 games, the playmaking is all there. He has 16 points, 11 of them assists, and he is playing 22:39 a night, up from 21:18 last season. His first night as captain set the tone: three assists in a 4-3 overtime win over Florida.

The finishing has cooled. Celebrini has 5 goals on 52 shots, a 9.6 shooting percentage, after converting 15.7 percent of his shots last season. Over his last five games he has 15 shots on goal and no goals.

When it clicks, it looks like Oct. 20 in Montreal. Celebrini opened the scoring, set up Tyler Toffoli's power-play goal to tie it 3-3 in the third period, then won it himself on the power play 2:13 into overtime. San Jose sits at 7-7-1, right on the line between a team that is building and a team that is ready.

What it means on the board

Both captains play tonight: Colorado visits Chicago and Calgary visits San Jose. Then it is Chicago at Florida and San Jose at Los Angeles on Wednesday. Here is how this storyline shows up in the markets we post:

• Points markets are where Bedard's return shows up first. A point in 7 of 8 games and 4 power-play points is the profile behind a Bedard 1+ points read, which is on today's board.
• Celebrini's shot volume (52 shots in 13 games, 4.0 a game) is steadier than his finishing right now. That gap between shots and goals is exactly what separates a shots-on-goal prop from an anytime goal price.
• Chicago with Bedard and Chicago without him are different teams. Read the moneyline and puck line on Blackhawks games with the 3-4-1 version in mind, not the 1-5-0 one.
• A cold shooting stretch is information, not a promise. Nothing here says a slump has to end on any given night.

Track both captains on the NHL board and free picks, catch up on the latest NHL recaps, and read how a player prop works before you tap in.

21+. Research and commentary, not betting advice.