3 things we learned from Chicago Blackhawks camp: Will Connor Bedard make his preseason debut Thursday?

For Chicago Blackhawks’ “campers,” Thursday’s night preseason opener against the St. Louis Blues couldn’t get here soon enough.

“It’s nice to play a game, yeah,” Seth Jones said after practice Wednesday at Fifth Third Arena. “Been almost a week now.

“It’s been good to compete against each other and try to ramp it up, but you get a different feeling tomorrow being at the United Center, different feeling with the fans and get more warmed up for the regular season.”

The timing couldn’t be better as far as coach Luke Richardson is concerned.

“We had two scrimmage days, and the adrenaline was there at the beginning and then it kind of teetered at the end,” he said. “So they’re ready for a game and want to play against someone else except themselves.”

Richardson wasn’t sure who would be playing in the game, and that includes Connor Bedard.

“I know he counts (under the collective bargaining agreement) as a veteran because he’s a first-round pick, but we have to manage that as well, and unfortunately that sometimes weighs the decisions on who’s playing because we don’t want to play everybody every game and we have to have eight veterans in there,” Richardson said.

But Richardson added he would lean toward putting in certain forward lines if they have shown chemistry in training camp.

“Kurashev’s looked really good with AA (Andreas Athanasiou) and (Lukas) Reichel as they did a bit at the end of last year, so we want to see if that translates into the game again,” Richardson said.

“And then we’ll see how Connor does. He looks really good with (Taylor) Hall and (Ryan) Donato, but we also want to see if something else clicks.”

It would be Bedard’s NHL preseason debut.

Here are three other things we learned.

1. Look for the power play.

The Hawks spent Wednesday working on special teams, and it could be an interesting dynamic to watch with Bedard in the mix.

Richardson wants to see more consistency with the addition of scoring threats such as “a Bedard or a (Taylor) Hall or getting Seth (Jones) shooting the puck maybe a little bit more and heavy guys around the front of the net, like a (Nick) Foligno and Corey Perry.

“There’s a lot of tools there that we’ve got to be more dangerous, that takes the aggression out of another team.”

2. Seth Jones watched clips of Bedard to learn his tendencies.

“It took me a while,” Jones said, laughing. “It’s like a 20-minute video. But it was nice to see where he likes the puck, where he scored most of his goals from.”

Bedard scored 16 power-play goals for the WHL Regina Pats in the regular season, and Jones noticed “he does like to move around a lot.”

“Really just him coming across the top, finding lanes, up the wall and then obviously the screen’s important in front,” Jones said. “I know he’s a shooter, he obviously has great vision as well. But when we’re interchanging up top … just trying to find lanes to shoot the puck and reading off each other.

“I try to set him up for one-timers and vice versa.”

The power play ran through Patrick Kane last season, but Richardson said Bedard brings some different elements.

“Kane was a great player, and he still is, but he was more of a playmaker, passer and he’ll finish off a play at times,” Richardson said. “But Connor’s just a different dynamic player where he can be dangerous anywhere.

“Even today, I saw him on the goal line trying to lift one, put it off a little triangle beside the goalie’s ear. He’s really creative, he sees everything and the goalie can’t really pick up his release.

“Part of his game is to be moving. … We just have to get all the players who are going to play with him used to that and ready to play off him.”

3. Richardson recalls former teammate Foligno — but he’s still coach.

Foligno was 19 when he joined the 2007-08 Ottawa Senators, and Richardson was a 38-year-old defenseman.

“He looked at me and said, ‘I have to effin’ retire,’ ” Foligno deadpanned Tuesday.

Richardson played with his dad, Mike Foligno, with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1990-91.

Richardson was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in training camp in September 1991, Mike “was just moving the family from Buffalo because they came in the last year, and Nick was running around the house — he was that big,” Richardson said, looking down.

Reunited near the end of Richardson’s career, Nick was coming out of juniors.

“We used to ride the bikes after every game and practice, so I made Nick ride the bike beside me,” Richardson said. “One day he was just sauntering on the bike. … He got off and thought he was leaving and I said, ‘Where are you going?’ ”

Richardson, fighting for a sixth or seventh spot on defense, said, “‘Get back on the bike.’ He’s like, ‘Oh,’ running back to the bike.”

Added Foligno: “He was already like a coach that year.”

Now, Foligno is like a player-coach on the Hawks.

“It’s great to have him here and I have good memories,” Richardson said. “And he knows I’m the coach, so we can have some fun, but there are going to be times when he’s not going to be happy with me and I’m not going to be happy with him in 82 games.”