Connor Bedard vs Your Expectations

[Dr Salt]

He's playing like a 100-point player offensively, but it would be nice if more people than just Kurashev could finish what he creates and if we had another forward who could consistently pass the puck. It shows you how terrible the rest of the Hawks roster is.

 

[General Fanager]

I expected him to be good and he is. I dont expect he will be superstar Bedard for a few years though. Also playing for such a bad team is hurting his production.....

 

[wetcoast]

Met. Before the season i said he'll be ppg. He is a little behind but i didnt think chicago would be that awful. So that probably balances itself out.

This is my take as well and I thought he would be around a 90ish point guy but also didn't know that Hall and Perry would have zero impact on the Black Hawks this season.

Bedard still has problems with heavy teams but I expect him to become a 100 point guy as soon as next year and challenge for the Richard very soon as well.

At least one decent linemate would help.

 

[Video Nasty]

This is my take as well and I thought he would be around a 90ish point guy but also didn't know that hall and Perry would have zero impact on the Black Hawks this season.

Bedard still has problems with heavy teams but I expect him to become a 100 point guy as soon as next year and challenge for the Richard very soon as well.

At least one decent linemate would help.

Just about sums it up. I also didn’t expect Chicago to be this bad, though I remember plenty of other posters did and they factored it into their predictions. They scored what? 21 goals in 14 games without him.

My own very optimistic 50 goals/100-105 points is clearly not happening, so I’m the first to step up and say I got it wrong, though it should be noted that I always made it with the caveat “if he plays 80-82 games.” With the team around him, it looks like that wasn’t ever in the cards. Cheers to those who recognized this.

I feel like getting knocked out in the midst of one’s rookie season always warps their trajectory. Players like Gretzky and Crosby enjoyed full campaigns and I think it helps keep a more natural ebb and flow of playing in the big leagues, letting them work out some of the kinks better as they progress along. Gretzky was of course already around 1.5 PPG through his own first half, but I believe he was fairly close to the 2 PPG he would go on to average during his sophomore season in his rookie second half. Crosby went nuclear during the final quarter or so of his own that was similar to what he would do in his sophomore year. I think that uninterrupted growth is so important.

Felt like Bedard was making one of those important turns in the weeks leading up to getting knocked out for 6 weeks.

As of now, I think the 30 goals/75 points crowd got it, though I think most of them expected him to do it in 80-82 games, rather than 68. I think if he didn’t miss that time, he hits the 90 or so you expected.

Though he’s not going to meet my numbers or even the games played threshold, he’s as good as I expected going into the season and clearly belongs.

Once again, if he plays at least 80 games next season, I certainly think he clears 100 points. I agree with you on that for sure.

Everything I’ve seen from him only makes me more excited to follow as many Chicago games as I can going into the future.