Call me crazy, but I wouldn’t worry about one weak game from a 14 year old
C Connor Bedard - Regina Pats, WHL (2023 Draft)
- Thread starter grentthealien
- Start date
- Status
MichaelFarrell
Registered User
Bedard: 23 games 25g 27a 52pts 2.26ppg
Savoie: 17 games 16g 26a 42pts 2.47 ppg
Impressive stats for both guys. Bedard is a year and a half younger than Savoie though which makes his production outstanding. I haven’t had a chance to watch them play but judging by his stats and his accolades I’d say Bedard gets exceptional status.
Savoie: 17 games 16g 26a 42pts 2.47 ppg
Impressive stats for both guys. Bedard is a year and a half younger than Savoie though which makes his production outstanding. I haven’t had a chance to watch them play but judging by his stats and his accolades I’d say Bedard gets exceptional status.
Last season Savoie had 71p in 31 games in the same league, for 2.29 PPG, higher than Bedard's. And with 1.00 GPG he wasn't even that far at all behind Bedard in goal-scoring, even though that's where Bedard is supposed to shine, interestingly enough.
My opinion is that this season's story is that Savoie's not really taking that level very seriously and his thoughts are in WHL, so he's not scoring as well as he could. I guess the other option is that Savoie's not developing as expected.
As for the topic of exceptional status, Bedard's listed at 5'8" and they denied Savoie exceptional due to him being 5'9".
Artorius Horus T
sincerety
Does anyone have any info of regarding his future height growth, it would be good for the NHL to get another 5 foot 7 / 5 foot 8
star player to the NHL (possible star player).
star player to the NHL (possible star player).
MichaelFarrell
Registered User
I was pretty surprised that Savoie didn’t get exceptional status last year. From what I’ve heard of Bedard, I thought he was supposed to be the next big thing.
Killerjas
Registered User
Hockey Canada doesn’t publicly disclose why players weren’t granted exceptional status so this is conjecture, and I highly doubt that he was denied on the basis of his height. There are many players in the WHL 5’9 and below. He was likely denied because he had an NCAA commitment and this would look bad for the league if he didn’t report, but again neither of us know the real reason(s).
Last edited:
Savoie was denied because he wouldn't guarantee pre-draft lottery he would report to any team that drafted him. The last thing Hockey Canada wants is a kid being granted exceptional status, then trying to game the system to end up at preferred destinations like Portland, Edmonton or Calgary while refusing to report to remote locations or bad teams like Prince George. Every Ontario kid who got it essentially agreed they would report wherever while Barrie and Oshawa weren't bad locations or horrific franchises, in Erie's case you were talking about a team that struggled for years and in a not very desirable location for a kid like McDavid given how many OHL teams were in close proximity to his family. Taylor Hall refused to report there causing ROR to go 1st while Hall "slipped" to 2nd. If you are going to play the I'm gonna commit to a school and then threaten teams off using that or heavily imply you are seriously considering NCAA, don't bother applying. Hockey Canada isn't going to let themselves get embarrassed by giving a kid exceptional status and then have him refuse to report.
I don't know about Savoie, but I've heard that Hockey Canada was reluctant to give Jack Hughes exceptional status due to his size and some other factors. The other main one being they were extremely gun-shy feeling they got really lax letting Sean Day get it after the success of the first three. Day wasn't a clear first overall pick and wasn't clearly mentally ready. Guys like McDavid and Tavares basically trained like pros since they were 12. The Sean Day situation was an embarrassing saga for Hockey Canada.
Last edited:
Artorius Horus T
sincerety
FireBird71
Registered User
- Aug 6, 2015
- 3,120
- 1,220
Have 5'9 players been granted exceptional status before?
But that's interesting, I could have sworn I saw a comment on that.
I am toxic
. . . even in small doses
I think Savoie put up 2.3ppg last year in the same Midget Prep division, so both are very impressive.
Yes he was, and he would have reported if he slipped to London in 2017 after not getting it. There was a clear interest in playing if he got exceptional status.
Considering there have been 6 players who got it (JT, Ekblad, McDavid, Day, Veleno and Wright), there isn't really much to go off of. Only 2 of those guys were huge in Ekblad and Day. JT was never that tall, but has always been very stocky. McDavid wasn't particularly big when he got it. Taller, but not filled out. The reason Savoie didn't get it was he was threatening to not report to certain teams. Its why they made that half-ass compromise after Winnipeg won the draft lotto.
Bubbles
Die Hard for Bedard 2023
And generally, the WHL just plain doesn't give out Exceptional Status. I don't know if that's just antiquated thinking or there just hasn't been a truly generational player coming out of the West.
I can't think of anyone who applied or was even worthy of it outside of maybe Savoie, and his was more due to him trying to game the draft. Although, the WHL is a much harder league on people than the OHL and the QMJHL. The amount of travel and time away is pretty burdensome. A lot of OHL teams can go away for a 2 game road trip, stay in a hotel one night and rarely drive more than 3 hours each way. Now there are some out of division match-ups that are quite far, and Soo and Sudbury are quite isolated, but its nothing compared to Portland to Winnipeg, Manitoba or P.G. to most places. Now, the WHL does do things to reduce these things such as not having home and homes between all-teams but even with those the time spent on buses and out of school is much longer.
Bubbles
Die Hard for Bedard 2023
Yes, agreed. Sometimes people forget we are talking about 14-15 year olds here.
Do you think Bedard has a chance as an ES? Latest report has him at 5'9.
Do you think Bedard has a chance as an ES? Latest report has him at 5'9.
Don't know enough about him outside of the counting stats. Not sure he meets my standard from what I've been told, but I don't have the connections out west I do for GTHL kids. Personally, the only kids who were clearly exceptional in my eyes were JT and McDavid. But, if the standard is Veleno then he should probably get it (I'm not going to lower the standard to Day because he never should have got it, and it was a disaster).
He was a man child. He wasn't the level of player either of JT or McDavid. I mean, if you want to find 15 year olds who can play in the CHL and not be completely overwhelmed, you can probably find 3 to 5 every year. So, it really depends on the criteria. When I think of exceptional, I think of kids who can challenge for a WJC spot at 16 (McDavid made it, Tavares was a late cut) and are high-end players at the U-18's at the end of their 15-year-old year. Guys like McDavid and JT were top 5 players in the OHL at 16. So, it really means how you are defining exceptional. Hockey Canada seems to be in a middle ground.
Appreciate the detailed reply. I think, like Day, his size played a definite factor, but what allowed Ekblad to thrive was his hockey IQ. A lot fell in love with Day’s sublime skating, but when you watched him with Compuware, you could see the decision making wasn’t there a lot of the time.
FireBird71
Registered User
- Aug 6, 2015
- 3,120
- 1,220
FireBird71
Registered User
- Aug 6, 2015
- 3,120
- 1,220
Breakfast of Champs
Registered User
- Apr 15, 2007
- 3,061
- 3,176
He was playing midget in Toronto when he applied...
- Status
