Has Connor Bedard quietly became underrated ?

jigglysquishy

Registered User
Jun 20, 2011
8,202
8,672
Regina, Saskatchewan
The issue I have with the term generational is that there is no widely accepted definition and these discussions always follow semantics on the definition itself.

As long as generational means 5 different things it doesn't actually mean anything.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PainForShane

Crow

Registered User
May 19, 2014
4,283
3,158
At this point let Bedard and hawks play this season

If he is a generational player he will be a hart finalist or ross top 3/4 finisher this year

If he is an elite/franchise player he will get 85-95 pts

Lets see how his 2nd season goes.

Right now its an uphill battle as his D+1/rookie year was not of a generational players level
He’s not going to be a hart finalist even if he wins the art ross. Why don’t you understand that? And it doesn’t really matter if he reaches his peak this year. It could be in two years.
 
  • Like
Reactions: PainForShane

hamzarocks

Registered User
Jul 22, 2012
21,335
14,801
Pickering, Ontario
He’s not going to be a hart finalist even if he wins the art ross. Why don’t you understand that?
If he wins the ross the hawks will be a playoff team and he will be a hart favorite

He can also be a hart finalist if hawks finish just outside the playoffs

We have seen Norris Winners going to Fox and Karlsson despite missing the playoffs in 2021 and 2023
 

MuckOG

Registered User
May 18, 2012
15,775
5,766
The issue I have with the term generational is that there is no widely accepted definition and these discussions always follow semantics on the definition itself.

As long as generational means 5 different things it doesn't actually mean anything.

This is a huge part of it. Because it's a subjective term, there will always be disagreements about who deserves the tag of "generational"

Personally, I look at a "generational" player as one that is one of the top 1 or 2 players in the NHL over an extended period of time. Players that were clearly ahead of the other players of their time. Orr dominated the early 70's, Gretzky dominated the 80's and early 90's, Lemieux dominated the late 80's and 90's, Crosby and Ovechkin the mid-00's until McDavid came on the scene who is the clear generational talent of this period of time until another player says otherwise.
 
Last edited:

GOilers88

#FreeMoustacheRides
Dec 24, 2016
14,996
22,412
The issue I have with the term generational is that there is no widely accepted definition and these discussions always follow semantics on the definition itself.

As long as generational means 5 different things it doesn't actually mean anything.
It just seems to mean really good player. Everyone is generational these days, ask Vladdy Jr.
 

nbwingsfan

Registered User
Dec 13, 2009
22,044
16,225
The fact that Chicago's depth lines couldn't score isn't a great excuse for why Bedard struggled. Generational talents are expected to produce, no excuses. Crosby outscored the next highest Penguin by 44 points. Meanwhile, Bedard scored all of 7 more points than Kurashev, and wasn't even the best 5v5 goal scorer on his team - that honor again belonged to Jason ****kin Dickinson, who finished with more 5v5 goals and a higher 5v5 g/60 than Bedard. Dickinson also finished with career highs in goals and points last year (and no, that had nothing to do with Bedard, they didn't even together until the very end of the year, when Bedard was moved to his wing).
:laugh:

Ohh man. So many bad faith arguments in here I don’t even know where to start.

Crosby outscored the next highest penguin by 44pts because Palffy was injured/retired and Recchi was traded. Both were on pace for around a PPG

Bedard only outscored his teammates by 7pts because he missed 14 games.

By your logic, McDavid was garbage his rookie season because he was only 3rd on his team in points, right?

But McDavid did torch the league at 18 years old, he was 3rd in the NHL in PPG. Bedard was 58th.

Sounds like poor Connor had no help at all! That 20-year-old Ovechkin had participation on 44% of Capitals goals, and the lone warrior Bedard had points on 34% of Hawks goals proves it... oh wait. #facts

Listen, 22 goals and 61 points is a fine rookie season. Bedard will only improve on it. No need to present it like it's comparable to the rookie seasons of the greatest phenoms NHL has ever seen.
Yes and Ovi was 20. Let’s see how Bedard does in two years to compare
 

WhiskeyYerTheDevils

yer leadin me astray
Sponsor
Apr 27, 2005
34,955
33,136
:laugh:

Ohh man. So many bad faith arguments in here I don’t even know where to start.

Crosby outscored the next highest penguin by 44pts because Palffy was injured/retired and Recchi was traded. Both were on pace for around a PPG
And with Palffy and Recchi gone, Crosby scored 33 points in his final 19 games of the season, a 142 point pace with Andy Hilbert and Colby Armstrong as his wingers. In those 19 games, he built up a 13 point lead on the next highest scoring Penguin, which prorates to 56 points over an 82 game season.

Bedard only outscored his teammates by 7pts because he missed 14 games.
He only played 8 less games than Kurashev, and only 80 less minutes. He was never going to come close to the type of separation we saw from Sid. Give him those games/minutes back and he maybe scores 13-15 more points than Kurashev in 75 games.

Crosby created that same gap in 19 games.

What's your excuse for him scoring less goals and goals per 60 than Jason Dickinson? I noticed you completely ignored that. I'd love to hear your excuses for his WC play as well, but I'm sure that'll be ignored

It's funny watching people like you simultaneously worship at the altar of junior hockey stats while attempting to discredit actual NHL performance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: MuckOG

BlueMed

Registered User
Jul 18, 2019
2,862
3,437
I'm not sold he will stick at center. Once the Blackhawks become more competitive in 3-4 years, his defensive tendencies and ability to matchup against bigger, faster, and stronger forwards in the playoffs will be revealed. I think he's probably better suited on the wing and will be a hybrid between Kane and Matthews, which is nothing short of remarkable but not generational.
 

authentic

Registered User
Jan 28, 2015
26,158
11,180
Bedard was an exceptional status player just like McDavid. And put up equal/better numbers in junior on worse teams. But whatever you say; that's what receipts are for.

Except both of those players were far better than Bedard is at the same age. There are legitimate obvious factors why Crosby and McDavids dominance translate better in the NHL, McDavids speed and overall skating ability and same with Crosby except his otherworldly lower body strength and puck protection more so than being the fastest player, although he wasn’t far from that before the high ankle sprain either. Bedard can be a Kane or a Kucherov, perhaps slightly better. I would say prepare for disappointment if you’re expecting a contender for 5th best player of all-time which is what Crosby and McDavid are.
 

PainForShane

formerly surfshop
Dec 24, 2019
2,787
3,232
It's not at all too early. Did we even have to ask that question of any of the recent big 4 generational forwards when they were teenagers? Absolutely not - it was already very clear that they were on track to be generational players by the time they were 19. The fact is that he's very clearly not tracking anywhere near those 4, and the "it's too early to tell" logic falls apart when we've never seen a generational NHL forward make the sort of massive course correction he'd need to make to catch up.

I'm referring to Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby, and McDavid, if that wasn't clear.

This is an insane point of view to have and to continue to argue. Bedard was labeled by many (most?) as potentially generational prior to the draft, he just finished his rookie season which went pretty well, even moreso when you consider how weak Chicago's top six was last year.

Looking forward to seeing you write post after post about Bedard just like you did with Laf -- ie pretend he's some scrub for years before you finally realized you're just human like the rest of us and couldn't predict the future. Except apparently you didn't realize this because it seems like you're doing a similar thing with a completely different young NHLer. Again.

Anyway, my point is that neither you, nor I, nor anyone else here knows with for certain how Bedard's career will end up. Maybe he will end up generational, maybe he won't, who knows. Seems like an obvious statement to make, I find it very weird that anyone would repeatedly go out of their way to argue against this very basic idea.

Good luck to you, in life.
 

authentic

Registered User
Jan 28, 2015
26,158
11,180
McDavid still managed to put up a PPG season, something that Bedard couldn't do.

I just don't think that Bedard has the size to be able to replicate what other "generational" players have done. I think he will be one of the best players in the league for a long time (assuming good health) and will probably win some awards along the way. He may even be the best player in the league for a couple of years. I just don't see him finishing his career and being thought of like a Gretzky, Lemieux, Crosby or McDavid.

He's closer to a Kane, Kucherov, Datsyuk type of tier. All time great players, but not "generational".

Not just point per game, McDavids points per game that season was good for 3rd or 4th in the league, right around where Crosby and all the other top scorers had in that defensive shitshow the league hadn’t escaped from yet.
 

Ad

Upcoming events

Ad

Ad