Nah i meant someone other than a bad WHL player. I’m simply moving the goalposts as far as you guys.
You seem to make up an excuse for everything so I will do the same
Forget the excuses or goalposts. You have just had a horrible take front the start on Bedard's skating ability. The moment you called him an average skater, you were way wrong. His weakest skating aspect is high end speed, which is still very good and way better then average.
Bedard isn’t the quickest or fastest player in his draft class, but he has the leg strength, and skating stride, to surprise opponents in transition. He’s quicker and faster than he looks. He almost sneaks up on opponents (as ridiculous as that sounds). He reminds me of Mitch Marner, pace wise, when he came into the NHL. Marner has added more speed as he has matured. Bedard will do the same.
Connor Bedard’s Skating
Bedard is a very good skater, but not quite elite. His agility and fluidity are fantastic, and he skates so effortlessly with or without the puck. He also utilizes his edges very well and can hit top speed very quickly. That acceleration and ability to know when to turn on the jets allow him to catch defenders off, allowing him to beat them. However, his top speed is not elite.
He’s faster than most, and this is by no means a knock on his skating. Bedard beats defenders using his agility, acceleration and insanely high IQ. When it comes to skating, under a microscope, he won’t purely burn defenders with his skating. That’s not a negative, in fact, it shows he knows how to work around it. Once he gets NHL coaching and continues to grow physically, especially in his lower-body strength, he has every trait to develop an elite speed. That’s a scary thought.
Another scout on his skating.
Because of his skating he’s able to gain the zone with ease, making him elite on the breakout and in possession. One thing that stands out when you watch Bedard play is his patience. He uses his elite skating and puck-handling to lull the defense to sleep and get into scoring lanes where he can get the puck past the goalie.
Like literally every scout say basically while he lacks McDavid level high speed he still possess top echelon NHL speed. You combine that with his quickness, agility, edgework, ect. Oh and he has the ability for his hands/mind to keep up with his feet. A lot of guys get slower with the puck compared to their off puck skating. Bedard is an elite on puck skater, with ankle breaking moves.
