Inevitability became reality a little after 7 p.m. on Wednesday night when the Chicago Blackhawks selected Connor Bedard with the first pick in the NHL Draft, making the 17-year-old native of North Vancouver, B.C. the face of one of the league’s marquee franchises and accelerating their own rebuild in the process.

There was zero question that Bedard would be the first pick in this draft — not entering Wednesday night and not for well over a year prior.

Noise about Bedard’s prowess first entered the hockey world’s ether when he was 10 years old, growing exponentially as he was stormed through West Vancouver Academy, was granted exceptional status at 14, then turned Regina, Saskatchewan into a destination while starring in the Western Hockey League over the last three seasons.

At every stage, he has easily surpassed expectations, leading to him being in the same class of draft hype as names like Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby.

His presumed NHL debut, on Oct. 10 in Pittsburgh, was slated for national television before the Blackhawks made the pick official.

So great is the presumption of success that no one stopped to consider whether Bedard will make the opening night roster — normally a question for any draft pick — before slating a team that went 26-49-7 last season in prime time.

Just how good is this kid?

Take it from Mathew Barzal, another Vancouver native who connected with Bedard before the latter’s ascendency.

“He would’ve been 12, I think, and was wearing a cage and skates that looked a little too big,” Barzal said in January. “Then we came back the next summer and he was beating NHL goalies with his shot.

“It was like, ‘This kid’s the real deal.’”

Bedard cannot singlehandedly take the Blackhawks from there to title contention, but what looked as though it would be a years-long process got significantly easier when the lottery balls came up Chicago’s way. 

The Blackhawks are set to enter free agency with over $27 million in salary cap space, more than all but three other teams, which general manager Kyle Davidson already used to his advantage in acquiring Taylor Hall and Nick Foligno from the Bruins, who could no longer afford either, on Monday.

In addition to the top pick, Chicago also had the No. 19 pick on Wednesday and will have nine selections on Thursday, giving Davidson a chance to further add to a system that already includes three top-25 selections from last season.

Oh, and the Blackhawks have six picks in the first three rounds of the 2024 draft.

In other words: Chicago has pulled off a dream tank job, transitioning from the era of Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane to Bedard with relative ease.

Getting back into the playoffs is another matter, and one that the Blackhawks won’t be expected to accomplish as soon as this season.

The players to whom Bedard is most easily compared, though, did not waste much time before starting to fulfill their promise.

McDavid was named Edmonton’s captain, won his first Hart Trophy, led the league in points and led the Oilers to the playoffs in just his second season in the league.

Crosby crossed the 100-point threshold as a rookie, helped the Penguins to a postseason berth as a sophomore, then was named captain and reached the Stanley Cup Final in his third act.

It took the Blackhawks just two seasons with Kane and Toews to get to the conference finals, and a third to win the Cup.

Now, they are on the clock with Bedard.