and serious people were calling lafreniere and wright generational? lol c'mon
F Gavin McKenna - Medicine Hat Tigers, WHL (2026 Draft)
- Thread starter Artorius Horus T
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and serious people were calling lafreniere and wright generational? lol c'mon
SpeedyCerviche
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- Sep 11, 2021
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Also looks like he may have connected a couple of left's to the face of a lineman in a post have game scrum which apparently landed him a game misconduct after the game. Could be some underlying grit there.
Bubbles
Die Hard for Bedard 2023
Yeah he was throwing a bunch of punches in a couple scrums in the previous games. Not afraid to mix it up a bit.
No, they weren’t. Wright got some extra hype because of the exceptional status. He then had a D-2 roughly on par with McDavid’s. Then covid hit and the rumblings of the possibility continued for obvious reasons. Then the notion of generational went out the window pretty quickly after his draft year started and it became clear that he wasn’t on McDavid’s level as a prospect. By draft time, he wasn’t even seen as a #1 pick, obviously.
Nobody ever thought Lafreniere was anywhere near generational, except maybe when he was like 14-15 the possibility was entertained by some. By the time he was drafted, he was seen as a Stamkos/Hall/Celebrini type of #1 (potential franchise player), and had been for a while.
CheckingLineCenter
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Maybe this place is a bubble because I don’t really get hockey news via other channels but from a pure pre-draft standpoint I do think Bedard was viewed in that Crosby/McDavid breath even if not their true equal.
Hockeyville USA
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Bedard was anointed in the Crosby/McDavid tier by Sportsnet & TSN & a good portion of hockey fans ate it up. His junior production was incredible, the international tournaments were phenomenal, but he stylistically wasn't going to translate as well as Crosby & McDavid, Most normal people who watched a ton of Bedard pre draft thought of him in the Kane/Stamkos/Kovalchuk tier.
Back to McKenna, he's clearly too good for the Dub now. I hope he goes to the NCAA next season, but again, completely understand if he stays in the Dub for cultural/personal comfort reasons.
Hockeyville USA
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Is Gavin McKenna going WHL or NCAA? Ex-Canuck Byron Ritchie helping him decide
Ritchie is also a skills coach at Kelowna's Rink Academy, part of the development team for player agents CAA, and the dad of an NHL prospect
theprovince.com
Lumber
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- Mar 20, 2025
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Since folks chose to dump on Bedard earlier in this thread I wanted to bring up the following. He is a young kid, who moved to Chicago as a young kid to play in the best hockey league in the world. The cess pool called social media decided to have some perverted fun at his expense. Give the kid a break, get off his back and let him play hockey. He is and will be a great hockey player.
agreed, that's my exact point lol. there are people who hop on tv to speak about basketball that also called markelle fultz the next chris paul or brandon ingram kd-lite, long after it became apparent that they wouldn't live up to their one time prospect hype.
sure, there were (probably) some people leading into their drafts claiming that laf or wright were generational, but cherry picking the most obvious hyperbole on the broader internet as an example of "canadians" overplaying canadian prospects selectively is silly.
time will tell on bedard. it might just be a case of getting something wrong based off of inflated junior stats. don't think there was anything nefarious, just classic "let's hype these kids up we want people to watch this"
Mathieukferland
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Mathieukferland
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2G 1A as MH go up 3-1
LW is McKenna, RW is Michkov, and even if center is Luchanko it's still going to be a great line.
Mathieukferland
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McKenna, with 'elite, non-teachable gift,' has scouts excited for 2026 NHL Draft | NHL.com
Medicine Hat forward has points in 44 straight games, 'his trajectory is generational'
www.nhl.com
Hockeyville USA
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“The Buzz is Loud, and It’s Real”: Gavin McKenna Among Names Possibly Playing In The NCAA Next Season
Top 2026 NHL Draft prospect Gavin McKenna is generating serious NCAA buzz—sources say Michigan and North Dakota are circling
rg.org
CheckingLineCenter
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- Aug 10, 2018
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If they trade Crosby you know it's locked up with NHL.
Funny how we just know it’s gonna happen. You just get that feeling. Getting Bruins vibes a little bit too, but not as strongly as Pittsburgh.
Blue and Green
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"We can schedule a couple of exhibition games in Whitehorse, too... the difference is, we can also give you $300,000."“The Buzz is Loud, and It’s Real”: Gavin McKenna Among Names Possibly Playing In The NCAA Next Season
Top 2026 NHL Draft prospect Gavin McKenna is generating serious NCAA buzz—sources say Michigan and North Dakota are circling
CheckingLineCenter
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Nah they’re gonna play on a line together. Sid passes McKenna the cup first after a championship. Uncle Gary’s final act.
Bubbles
Die Hard for Bedard 2023
Absolutely ridiculous goal shorthanded! Goal of the year!
Felidae
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I've never seen a goal like that before, one of the best I've ever seen.
Luigi Lemieux
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Fatass
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- Apr 17, 2017
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Beautiful goal. The time he had to make that play though shows why nhl coaches insist on players coming back hard with back pressure on a puck carrier. He had a lot of room and time to make that play and while short handed. The fun of junior hockey that gets coached out of the nhl.
