C Connor Bedard - Regina Pats, WHL (2023 Draft) Part 3

[McRpro]

It's not a graph, it's measured data from world championships. A table isn't a graph.

But sure, why not? I don't think McDavid's top speed is that great. Never have.

The point is that that was Kane's speed. And well, usually Kane doesn't skate all out at WHCs. He's quite fast.

I remember a Sens fan awhile ago saying McDavid had "ok" hands.

Now we get this gem.

 

[Tutu to]

It's not a graph, it's measured data from world championships. A table isn't a graph.

But sure, why not? I don't think McDavid's top speed is that great. Never have.

The point is that that was Kane's speed. And well, usually Kane doesn't skate all out at WHCs. He's quite fast.

Out of curiosity what do you think makes McDavid so great?

 

[OKR]

It's not a graph, it's measured data from world championships. A table isn't a graph.

But sure, why not? I don't think McDavid's top speed is that great. Never have.

The point is that that was Kane's speed. And well, usually Kane doesn't skate all out at WHCs. He's quite fast.

McDavid has been clocked at 44.2 km/h with a puck on his stick, that’s almost twice the speed of a average skater. If that ain’t ”great” top speed, nothing is.

 

[prongertheman9]

kid is suppose to be best prospect since mcdavid and crosby isnt he?

He’s the best 16 year old since Crosby/Tavares. Most hyped since McDavid. NHL teams blowing up their rosters and tanking like he is generational.

 

[93LEAFS]

kid is suppose to be best prospect since mcdavid and crosby isnt he?

Debatable. I don't think he's going to end up a notably better prospect than Matthews, MacKinnon or Eichel or in a different tier than them. Those guys all had such ridiculous physical tools combined with high-end play and production that they really stood out. But, those are probably the 3 best forward prospects behind McDavid of the 2010's.

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

But sure, why not? I don't think McDavid's top speed is that great. Never have.

LOL what?

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

Out of curiosity what do you think makes McDavid so great?

His ability to *slow* the game down. It makes up for his lack of speed

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I think he's level with the pack of Matthews, Eichel, Laine, Hughes, Lafreniere, Dahlin, McKinnon, Wright, Michkov. You could rank him first, but you could also have him not first among that group.

One of these is not like the other.

I think Bedard is the best F prospect since Matthews, but probably not quite at that level.

 

[Tutu to]

To be fair I don’t think Mackinnon was as hyped as the other guys.

As far as Bedard goes he might be the best 16 year old I’ve ever seen. I don’t remember Crosby and I think he was better than McDavid at the same age.

 

[93LEAFS]

To be fair I don’t think Mackinnon was as hyped as the other guys.

As far as Bedard goes he might be the best 16 year old I’ve ever seen. I don’t remember Crosby and I think he was better than McDavid at the same age.

He was insanely hyped. He was the kid from Halifax following in Crosby's shoes going to Shattuck. It died down a bit because he had a weak WJC and that's when the casuals pay attention to prospects whereas Jones and Drouin stood out. But, MacKinnon's playoffs/MC combined with his unique combo of size and strength made him grade out extremely high.

The big thing with McDavid was he wasn't particularly filled out to the same extent Crosby and Bedard were/are at the same age. He had insane skills that projected better in comparison to Bedard. He was just such an elite skater with a mind and hands that operated at that pace.

 

[cheechoo]

Calgary Flames please. Save us from this misery.

Still never had a top 3 pick.

 

[Tutu to]

He was insanely hyped. He was the kid from Halifax following in Crosby's shoes going to Shattuck. It died down a bit because he had a weak WJC and that's when the casuals pay attention to prospects whereas Jones and Drouin stood out. But, MacKinnon's playoffs/MC combined with his unique combo of size and strength made him grade out extremely high.

The big thing with McDavid was he wasn't particularly filled out to the same extent Crosby and Bedard were/are at the same age. He had insane skills that projected better in comparison to Bedard. He was just such an elite skater with a mind and hands that operated at that pace.

That’s pretty much what it is. I see Bedard as better at 16 but I doubt he’s as good at 25. I still expect him to be a superstar regardless.

A lot of McDavid was projection. I watched a bunch of clips from him in the GTHL and while he looked great he wasn’t as dominant as some people would have assumed. I think Wright was better at 14-15 but was clearly an early bloomer.

He was insanely hyped. He was the kid from Halifax following in Crosby's shoes going to Shattuck. It died down a bit because he had a weak WJC and that's when the casuals pay attention to prospects whereas Jones and Drouin stood out. But, MacKinnon's playoffs/MC combined with his unique combo of size and strength made him grade out extremely high.

The big thing with McDavid was he wasn't particularly filled out to the same extent Crosby and Bedard were/are at the same age. He had insane skills that projected better in comparison to Bedard. He was just such an elite skater with a mind and hands that operated at that pace.

That’s pretty much what it is. I see Bedard as better at 16 but I doubt he’s as good at 25. I still expect him to be a superstar regardless.

A lot of McDavid was projection. I watched a bunch of clips from him in the GTHL and while he looked great he wasn’t as dominant as some people would have assumed. I think Wright was better at 14-15 but was clearly an early bloomer.

 

[Le Golie]

He was insanely hyped. He was the kid from Halifax following in Crosby's shoes going to Shattuck. It died down a bit because he had a weak WJC and that's when the casuals pay attention to prospects whereas Jones and Drouin stood out. But, MacKinnon's playoffs/MC combined with his unique combo of size and strength made him grade out extremely high.

The big thing with McDavid was he wasn't particularly filled out to the same extent Crosby and Bedard were/are at the same age. He had insane skills that projected better in comparison to Bedard. He was just such an elite skater with a mind and hands that operated at that pace.

I don’t agree with your assessment on the excitement around MacKinnon. It was nothing like Crosby or McDavid. He was hyped the same way other good first overall picks are hyped but he was never portrayed as the next great phenom like the other two.

Since Lindros, they modern hype train has been Crosby, then McDavid. Bedard has to be third but could surpass McDavid’s hype over the next 10 months. Ovechkin would be next, then Malkin and Tavares… then a step below all of that would be Mack along with Stamkos, Matthews, etc.

That’s how I saw it from spending way more time on Hf than I should have between 2001 and 2020.

 

[jj cale]

I don’t agree with your assessment on the excitement around MacKinnon. It was nothing like Crosby or McDavid. He was hyped the same way other good first overall picks are hyped but he was never portrayed as the next great phenom like the other two.

Since Lindros, they modern hype train has been Crosby, then McDavid. Bedard has to be third but could surpass McDavid’s hype over the next 10 months. Ovechkin would be next, then Malkin and Tavares… then a step below all of that would be Mack along with Stamkos, Matthews, etc.

That’s how I saw it from spending way more time on Hf than I should have between 2001 and 2020.

Yeah, he was never as insanely hyped as Crosby and Mcdavid or even Matthews, I would call Makinnons hype around Eichel level and not even quite that with how Eichel was viewed by his draft day..

 

[93LEAFS]

I don’t agree with your assessment on the excitement around MacKinnon. It was nothing like Crosby or McDavid. He was hyped the same way other good first overall picks are hyped but he was never portrayed as the next great phenom like the other two.

Since Lindros, they modern hype train has been Crosby, then McDavid. Bedard has to be third but could surpass McDavid’s hype over the next 10 months. Ovechkin would be next, then Malkin and Tavares… then a step below all of that would be Mack along with Stamkos, Matthews, etc.

That’s how I saw it from spending way more time on Hf than I should have between 2001 and 2020.

I disagree. I don't see Bedard as McDavid tier. I've been here a long time too. But, Bedard will get the crazy Canada WJC hype and such. I also wouldn't put Tavares ahead of that group you are talking about. Even after his 72 goal 16-year old season, Bob polled scouts entering the 2008 draft year, who would you take Tavares or Stamkos, and Stamkos won by like a 7-3 margin. And, that is arguably when Tavares hype was at its highest. I also wouldn't go in such a convoluted way. I'd say there were basically 2 names at the top since 04/05 lockout and that is Sid, then a tier of like Matthews, Eichel, MacKinnon, Tavares, and Stamkos. There wasn't clear separation. I expect Bedard to land in the latter tier. His 16 year old season was pretty comparable to Stamkos, especially if you factor in historically OHL scoring has translated better to NHL production than the WHL's by a slight margin.

 

[EichHart]

Bedard is above Matthews and below McDavid in terms of tier as a prospect.

 

[jj cale]

I don’t agree with your assessment on the excitement around MacKinnon. It was nothing like Crosby or McDavid. He was hyped the same way other good first overall picks are hyped but he was never portrayed as the next great phenom like the other two.

Since Lindros, they modern hype train has been Crosby, then McDavid. Bedard has to be third but could surpass McDavid’s hype over the next 10 months. Ovechkin would be next, then Malkin and Tavares… then a step below all of that would be Mack along with Stamkos, Matthews, etc.

That’s how I saw it from spending way more time on Hf than I should have between 2001 and 2020.

Yeah, he was never as insanely hyped as Crosby and Mcdavid or even Matthews, I would call Makinnons hype around Eichel level.

Bedard is above Matthews and below McDavid in terms of tier as a prospect.

I don't think he is above Matthews myself, he's a pretty special player. Ill be quite surprised if he turns out better then him.

 

[93LEAFS]

Bedard is above Matthews and below McDavid in terms of tier as a prospect.

There isn't really a tier between those two. Matthews was a 6'3 220 center with a complete game, good but not great skating, a ridiculous shot/hands and nose for net, while playing center. That's basically a player teams dream up looking for a center. Bedards good, but his size somewhat knocks him when you are talking about that and projecting him to center, even if he's a better skater and a better passer but Matthews offers more in winning down low while also being able to use his hands/size/strength for high end puck protection abilities. Guys like Matthews and Eichel while having different skill sets are basically what teams dream on when thinking of franchise centers for the modern NHL.

 

[devilsfan35]

How big do we think bedard gets? Is he still around 5’9’’ 180lbs?

 

[93LEAFS]

How big do we think bedard gets? Is he still around 5’9’’ 180lbs?

I'm not sure he gets much taller. He seems to be of the small stocky build but will probably fill out more and who knows if whatever team he goes to inflates his height.

In a lot of cases if Bedard wasn't destroying the league to the extent he is (and Crosby was even a bigger version of this) scouts get scared on the growth potential of guys who are short but stocky at that age. It scared teams with Jake Wise, Adam Mascherin, and to a lesser extent Marco Rossi, compared to guys built like Marner, J. Hughes and Patrick Kane, who they feel will take bigger strides as they add muscle. This was a concern to an extent with Matt Savoie among scouts this year. But, if Bedard dominates to the level he's capable no one will care about it really, unless somehow Fantilli has a Hobey Baker level season which seems quite unlikely, and how teams will view Michkov is almost impossible to predict considering we have no idea what potential issues there are with Russian prospects now, let alone what the global political sphere is like in a year.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

One of these is not like the other.

I think Bedard is the best F prospect since Matthews, but probably not quite at that level.

You forgot that you also hate Lafreniere.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

You forgot that you also hate Lafreniere.

I don't hate Wright or Lafreniere. But Wright is clearly not in the same class of prospect as Bedard, and never was. He's a guy who matured early and whose development has flattened significantly. Bedard is already better and is a year younger.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I don't hate Wright or Lafreniere. But Wright is clearly not in the same class of prospect as Bedard, and never was. He's a guy who matured early and whose development has flattened significantly. Bedard is already better and is a year younger.

Wright is also 4-5 inches taller. I know you hate Wright and are doing a victory lap that he went 4th, but most had him 1st or 2nd in his draft class. I’m not convinced Bedard a year from now will be or at least deserves to be viewed as so much better of a prospect. Like it or not, there’s currently one top 6 center in the NHL shorter than 5’10. Bedard can get taller to make it less of a concern and he’s very capable of being an exception to the rule, but it’s absolutely something that can’t be ignored. The NHL is a lot more difficult than the WHL.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Wright is also 4-5 inches taller. I know you hate Wright and are doing a victory lap that he went 4th, but most had him 1st or 2nd in his draft class. I’m not convinced Bedard a year from now will be or at least deserves to be viewed as so much better of a prospect. Like it or not, there’s currently one top 6 center in the NHL shorter than 5’10. Bedard can get taller to make it less of a concern and he probably will be an exception to the rule, but it’s absolutely something that can’t be ignored. The NHL is a lot more difficult than the WHL.

Bedard is a way better than Wright. It's not even remotely close. And there were many, many scouts who didn't even have Wright in their top 3 by the end of the season.

I don't hate Wright, but I'm not a fanboy like you that overlooks the reality that he's just not that good.

They don't even belong in the same sentence.

 

[Rengorlex]

Out of curiosity what do you think makes McDavid so great?

I suppose you think it's his top speed, in which case Ilya Mikheyev is more special than McDavid.