The Chicago Blackhawks were the big winners of the NHL's offseason. After a brutal season in which they struggled to score and were even worse at preventing goals, the Blackhawks won the lottery.

The Draft Lottery that is. The Blackhawks did not have the worst record in the league — they were third-worst — but a card with their logo was pulled May 8, and they gained the right to select Connor Bedard in the NHL Draft.

How good is Connor Bedard? He will have to prove himself on the ice during his rookie season and beyond, but all estimates to this point indicate he is the best player to come into the league since Connor McDavid was drafted No. 1 by the Edmonton Oilers in 2015.

Bedard is not expected to be quite as good as McDavid, who combines brilliant skating ability with eye-catching skills and tremendous size.

Bedard does not have McDavid's size, but he appears to have every other skill that every NHL  general manager wants in a player.

The No. 1 pick is 5-10, 185 pounds and a brilliant stickhandler and scorer. Bedard played 57 games for Regina of the Western Hockey League, and he exploded for 71 goals and 72 assists for 143 points last season. That doesn't include his performance at the World Junior Championships playing for Team Canada.

All Bedard did was put on the best performance in the history of that elite tournament. He played 7 games for the Maple Leaf nation and he scored 9 goals and 14 assists. That's an indicator that there should be no stopping Bedard.

Connor Bedard in his first NHL season

All the talk regarding the Blackhawks in Bedard's first season is that expectations should not be too high.

At least that's the public perception. However, this is a team that won three Stanley Cup championships between 2010 and 2015, and their fans are used to a team that is often at the top of the NHL ladder.

While they haven't been in that position since their 2015 triumph in the Stanley Cup Final against the Tampa Bay Lightning, they have made multiple moves to improve in the 2023-24 season.

In addition to drafting Bedard, the Blackhawks engaged in a trade with the Boston Bruins to bring in high-scoring forward Taylor Hall and veteran Nick Foligno.

They also signed right wing Corey Perry, an edgy veteran who understands where to go in the offensive zone in order to finish off scoring opportunities.

While Foligno and Perry are past their prime years, they are the kind of veterans who can keep a young team on track through their on-ice and locker-room leadership.

Hall had 16 goals and 20 assists in 61 regular-season games for the Bruins, but he has been a Hart Trophy (Most Valuable Player) winner and he was the No. 1 draft pick in the 2010 NHL Draft.

He should be a confidant of Bedard, as well as a line mate during his rookie season.

The Blackhawks may be a much better team than they were in 2022-23 and should be able to rise above expectations for the season. But they are far from a complete team.

They need significant help on defense and in goal.

Engage the Bruins for Jeremy Swayman

The Blackhawks are set to start the season with Petr Mrazek and Arvid Soderblom (career record of 2-12-2) in goal this season. It is difficult to conceive that these two will have an opportunity to steal games on behalf of the Blackhawks.

This may be one of the least productive tandems in the league. Mrazek had a 10-22-3 record with the Blackhawks last season along with a 3.66 goals-against average and an .894 save percentage. He had a 3.34 GAA and an .888 save percentage with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2021-22.

The 31-year-old Mrazek has played 11 seasons in the NHL and some of them have been productive, but it appears that his game has diminished and he is not capable of providing consistency in the net.

The Blackhawks need help in goal, and they should engage the Bruins in another trade. The Bruins have perhaps the best 1-2 punch in goal in the league with Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman, and they also have had a tumultuous offseason of their own.

Veteran centers Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci have retired, and that could leave Boston with a significant hole at their top 2 center positions. They also don't have a first-round draft pick in the upcoming draft.

By combining multiple picks, including their first-round pick, perhaps they could make a trade for Swayman.

Swayman shared the Jennings Trophy with Ullmark last year and he had a 24-6-4 record during Boston's record-setting regular season. He also had a 2.27 GAA and a .920 save percentage.

Perhaps the presence of Swayman could turn the Blackhawks into a playoff team. Even if he couldn't do that, he will solve their problem in net.

The Blackhawks should engage the Bruins in a trade for their outstanding goalie.