What does it take to be considered a generational talent and be the unanimous number one overall selection in the NHL Draft? Apparently, never touching a Big Mac and french fries.

Connor Bedard, who the Chicago Blackhawks made the first pick in the 2023 draft, has never once eaten fast food in his life. How do we know this information? His mother Melanie revealed the news in an interview on NHL.com last March.

“He’s never had fast food,” Melanie told Mike Morreale. “He will at some point, but he hasn’t eaten at McDonald’s or anything yet. I think we all know when we eat well, how you feel, and then when we kind of go off the rails. I think he’s just aware of that feeling.”

So, what exactly does Bedard, who finished his last season in Canadian major junior with an absolutely absurd 143 points (71g, 72a) in only 57 games, eat on a daily basis? A pretty regimented, rotating diet.

“On game days, he’ll eat chicken, rice, vegetable, shrimp, mashed yams, salmon,” Melanie said. “A lot of times he’ll text me and I’ll laugh because I’ll get these texts while he’s at school that ask, ‘How about chicken tonight? How about quesadillas?'”

The somewhat boring food choices and avoidance of Happy Meals as a kid have clearly worked for the 18-year-old Bedard. The North Vancouver native has been in the hockey spotlight since he was just 13 years old and The Hockey News‘ Ken Campbell did a profile on him titled Meet the Future of Hockey, 13-Year-Old Connor Bedard.

Bedard was soon after granted “exceptional status” by Hockey Canada, allowing him to enter the CHL a year earlier than he normally would. At the WHL Bantam Draft in 2020, the Regina Pats made Bedard the first overall selection and with that pick, he was made the first-ever WHL player of exceptional status.

His rigorous commitment to health and keeping his body in pristine shape is reminiscent of another NHL first overall draft selection. Nathan MacKinnon, the Colorado Avalanche’s franchise centerman, was first off the board ten years before Bedard in 2013 and has been in the news before for his own quirky eating habits.

“He’s crazy that way, he eats right,” then Avs teammate Nikita Zadorov remarked on MacKinnon’s diet. “He doesn’t drink. He drinks only water. Two years ago, in Colorado, he got rid of all the pop, ice cream, and desserts. He got rid of them from the dressing room and pregame meals. He even got rid of white sauce for pasta. He replaced the actual pasta itself with chickpea pasta that has more protein.

“He says, ‘Guys, if you want to eat that crap, you have the offseason for that. When you come here, there will be none of that because we’re winning the Cup.'”

While it eventually turned out that Zadorov was exaggerating a tad for comedic effect, strict diets are very common in the NHL. Not everyone can be Alex Ovechkin and seemingly eat the once Brooks Oprik-coined “borderline inspiring” diet of the Great Eight and still score 50 goals.

Pittsburgh Penguins superstar and Bedard’s idol, Sidney Crosby, hardly ever has a cheat meal. The same story goes for former league MVP Taylor Hall and many others.

Bedard will look to follow in their footsteps not only with food but with success on the ice. His first NHL test will come on October 10 as he and the rest of the Blackhawks will visit Crosby and the Pens.

Headline photo: Katie Adler/RMNB