There are reasons beyond points that someone might prefer Michkov to Bedard. For instance, Michkov is waaaay stronger on pucks down low, he's so much harder to knock off the puck. And he has proven to be much more effective at getting to scoring areas around the net. He also plays with a much higher battle level and feistiness. He's like a mini Crosby in these ways.
It's actually a stupid post alarm. You must have triggered it.
It's not at all debatable, have you watched Michkov play? Dude is a tank on the puck. He can hold off defenders for extended periods of time below the goal line. Bedard is much more of a perimeter player.
Sick burn.
It's not just about being physical or feisty, its about his strength on the puck, and ability to hold off defenders and win battles along the boards and around the net. He's already in the top 90th percentile among NHL forwards in that ability IMO, while Bedard is one of the easiest players to knock of the puck in the league.
Bedard is 19 and Michkov 20. How strong both of them are on the puck is almost certainly going to change a great deal.
No, it really isn’t. One very specific skill, that is subjective at best, is not a legitimate reason to take a player in Michkov who simply doesn’t have the resume that Bedard has at the NHL.
It's more than just "a very specific skill". It's a broad capability that some of the best players in the history of the sport have used to anchor their play. And it's not like it's his only talent. He's got incredible vision and poise, and his timing around the net is insane.
Michkov turned 20 4 days ago lol.
We don't know how they will develop, but considering that right now Michkov is leaps and bounds ahead of Bedard in that area, I'd be willing to bet that will never change, or even be close.
NHL resume as in leading his team, by a wide margin in scoring as the youngest player in the league, winning the Calder trophy and again leading his team, by far, in scoring despite his “slump”. Also weird talking about his defensive game when I am comparing him to Michkov not Celebrini.
Wait, so we need to discount Bedards start to his rookie season to… checks notes… compare it solely to Michkov’s start to his rookie season?
Michkov has been very solid defensively, especially in his past 20 games or so.
You're the one who brought up Bedard's NHL resume, which is really not that great. Even his "hot start" was only 23 points in his first 28 games, trailing Michkov.
That's really not that impressive of a feat considering who was competing with for the team lead. Especially when you consider how poor his 200 foot game was.
I think that every sane hockey fan was saying precisely that; my only qualification at the time was that Chicago might be the only team that didn't regret passing on Michkov.
