Has Connor Bedard quietly became underrated ?

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Will be peak Paul Kariya in a couple of years and nothing wrong if that is what he stays.

Peak Paul Kariya was a top 5 offensive player in the world from 1995-96 thru to 1999-2000, so yeah, that's a great outcome.

Only Lemieux (1.94), Jagr (1.55), and Lindros (1.33) had a higher ppg during those 5 years. Kariya's 1.292 ppg put him a hair ahead of prime Selanne (1.289), Forsberg(1.27) , and Sakic (1.26). That's pretty good company. He doesn't have to be a McDavid or Crosby tier player to be an incredible player in his own right.

 

[PainForShane]

Peak Paul Kariya was a top 5 offensive player in the world from 1995-96 thru to 1999-2000, so yeah, that's a great outcome.

Only Lemieux (1.94), Jagr (1.55), and Lindros (1.33) had a higher ppg during those 5 years. Kariya's 1.292 ppg put him a hair ahead of prime Selanne (1.289), Forsberg(1.27) , and Sakic (1.26). That's pretty good company. He doesn't have to be a McDavid or Crosby tier player to be an incredible player in his own right.

Oh hey! I guess you remember Jagr.

I wonder how Jagr did in his rookie year? Methinks Bedard's rookie year was way more impressive.

Still too early to tell wrt Bedard's ceiling (either way). We'll see how he goes

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

I find watching him play he's dealing with a lot more pressure. Smart move to not name him captain just yet.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Oh hey! I guess you remember Jagr.

I wonder how Jagr did in his rookie year? Methinks Bedard's rookie year was way more impressive.

Still too early to tell wrt Bedard's ceiling (either way). We'll see how he goes

Jagr had the opposite problem as Bedard. Pens had a stacked lineup and he was buried on the third line.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Oh hey! I guess you remember Jagr.

I wonder how Jagr did in his rookie year? Methinks Bedard's rookie year was way more impressive.

Still too early to tell wrt Bedard's ceiling (either way). We'll see how he goes

You just can't leave it alone, huh? I'm living rent free at this point.

Jagr had the opposite problem as Bedard. Pens had a stacked lineup and he was buried on the third line.

Not to mention he was essentially a skilled power forward, who still had a lot of filling out to do. There's a reason those bigger guys can take a bit longer.

 

[PainForShane]

You just can't leave it alone, huh? I'm living rent free at this point.


Not to mention he was essentially a skilled power forward, who still had a lot of filling out to do. There's a reason those bigger guys can take a bit longer.

Just doing charity work for the mentally homeless

 

[NVious]

I find watching him play he's dealing with a lot more pressure. Smart move to not name him captain just yet.

He has the name, now he has to live up to it.

McDavid is speed running GOATness
McMichael surpassed McDavid easily with his own greatness (I call it Connorness)

Will it be Bedard's turn? Time will tell, but he has all the tools (being named Connor).

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Are there any whispers about him potentially fighting through an injury? Only 4 shots in his last 3 games, which is crazy low for him. No goals in his last 8, only 6 points in his last 12.

Might not be a bad idea to let him spend a game in the pressbox - not because he's bad or hurting the team, but just to give him that perspective and maybe let his body get a little break. Young players have talked about how much that can help when they are in a rut - we saw it work with Michkov.

Regardless, I think he's going to heat up here before too long, and go on something like a 10 game stretch with 7-8 goals and 14-16 points. Despite this slow start I still expect him to finish the season with ~85 points if he plays all 82 games.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

A little worried about him, on pace for 14 goals and 62 points almost 20 games into the season. And this era is tailor made for skill players, highest scoring environment since the early 90s. The average goalie save percentage is only .900

 

[rynryn]

Ugh it's just a slump. People were worried about MacKinnon too and now look at him.

 

[FiveFourteenSixOne]

Ugh it's just a slump. People were worried about MacKinnon too and now look at him.

The thing about Mack though is that underneath his early struggles, you could see an absolute beast and physical freak that just hadn't figured it out. Bedard doesn't have that quality.

 

[TheGuiminator]

Laughable title thread. If anything, he’s becoming overrated.

Very disappointing career thus far

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Ugh it's just a slump. People were worried about MacKinnon too and now look at him.

He has 5 goals in his last 33 games, 8 in his last 43. it's more than just a slump. I think he needs to be moved to wing, he's too small to play center in this league. Let him concentrate on creating offense. Also finding him a good playmaking center should be a priority. I want him to succeed.

 

[Five Alarm Fire]

The thing about Mack though is that underneath his early struggles, you could see an absolute beast and physical freak that just hadn't figured it out. Bedard doesn't have that quality.

Out of curiosity I looked up what people were saying about MacKinnon back then. Lots of takes that aged poorly, including one I made about the 2013 draft (lol).

Nathan Mackinnon

What's going on with Nathan Mackinnon, and why does it seem like he's not taking his place among the very elite in the NHL? Every year since his rookie playoff scoring frenzy he seems to have fallen short of expectations. This year he looked fantastic at the World Cup, but the production in...

forums.hfboards.com

Really it was a mixed bag, lots of people saw the physical potential but there were a lot of similar comments to what we’re seeing now about Bedard.

I don’t think it’s fair to compare the two and the glimpses we saw early in their careers because of the style difference. MacKinnon dominates using sheer power, Bedard should eventually dominate using skill, shot and hockey IQ. I do think critiques about his speed are fair but I don’t think it’s a requisite for him to dominate in his prime.

 

[slapKing]

As a first overall, Bedard is excelling. incredible player at a young age.

But, if you're comparing him to Crosby and McDavid, he's already trending behind. Season 2, they improved from their rookie seasons and won the Hart and Art Ross, plus lead their teams to the playoffs after X amount of years.

If that's the standard Bedard is competing, then he's falling back. Even with the Calder win, he wasn't a better rookie than Sid and McD.

 

[Strangle]

I think Mitchkov is going to end up the better player

I really think Bedard looks like he projects at his ceiling to a Marner level. Theres nothing wrong with that, but I don’t feel like we are seeing a player who will compare to McDavid, for example

 

[Dickie Dunn]

13 points on that team and Ryan f’n Donato has 8 goals. I could be wrong but I have to think that is mostly Bedard setting up Donato. He will be really good, maybe it’s time to stop bringing up Gretzky/Lemieux/McDavid/Jagr etc in his threads and just let him be Bedard.

 

[Number8]

It's why sports are kind of dumb these days.

There's not a fanbase or management team that wouldn't be elated to have Bedard on their team. Not one.

But, in today's world, we have to extrapolate whether he'll be the best of all time and heaven forbid any fan doesn't immediately equate him to Gretzky.

 

[WarriorofTime]

The thing about Mack though is that underneath his early struggles, you could see an absolute beast and physical freak that just hadn't figured it out. Bedard doesn't have that quality.

In two years, will we be saying?

"The thing about Bedard though is that underneath his early production not being overwhelming, you could see that he was a bit snake bitten and it just wasn't converting into goals and points as much. McKenna doesn't have that."

 

[Blue and Green]

I think Mitchkov is going to end up the better player

I really think Bedard looks like he projects at his ceiling to a Marner level. Theres nothing wrong with that, but I don’t feel like we are seeing a player who will compare to McDavid, for example

It's quite clear that he won't hit McDavid's level, but Marner as his best case result... come on.

Bedard can do more through the neutral zone than Michkov so I think that he's more likely to be the better player. Both are on the small side and lack strong straight-line speed thus there are limits to what they can do. Both are brilliant with the puck on their stick inside the offensive blue line; that's when they can really dominate. Marner could only dream of shooting the puck the way that they can.

 

[Quinning]

The thing about Mack though is that underneath his early struggles, you could see an absolute beast and physical freak that just hadn't figured it out. Bedard doesn't have that quality.

Guy did this as an 18 year old.

 

[rynryn]

He has 5 goals in his last 33 games, 8 in his last 43. it's more than just a slump. I think he needs to be moved to wing, he's too small to play center in this league. Let him concentrate on creating offense. Also finding him a good playmaking center should be a priority. I want him to succeed.

Hey, I'd be worried too if my team's future hinged on it but from my POV as a person who wants Chicago to fail for as long as possible I feel he will be back in the convo for top 10 fwd in a few years. It is disappointing that he needs the right complimentary players around him to perform at an elite level out of the box but i fear he will adjust and get back on track despite the dearth of talent around him.

 

[belfour30]

Hawks fan here who has been somewhat critical.
1. His teammates are complete crap.
After a hot start, Teravainen has done nothing. Bertuzzi has been ok but mostly invisible. Neither have played with Bedard for a while. The rest of the forwards are garbage.
2. He's the only scoring threat on the ice usually, so they all swarm him. It's hard to get a shot off when you have no space.

If Bedard puts up 75 pts this year, then I think it's fair to say that he's going to absolutely explode when he gets some help. They're almost as bad as last year offensively.

Is it disappointing, yes but to be expected given that he was in a worse situation than any of the super hyped 1OAs.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Hawks fan here who has been somewhat critical.
1. His teammates are complete crap.
After a hot start, Teravainen has done nothing. Bertuzzi has been ok but mostly invisible. Neither have played with Bedard for a while. The rest of the forwards are garbage.
2. He's the only scoring threat on the ice usually, so they all swarm him. It's hard to get a shot off when you have no space.

If Bedard puts up 75 pts this year, then I think it's fair to say that he's going to absolutely explode when he gets some help. They're almost as bad as last year offensively.

Is it disappointing, yes but to be expected given that he was in a worse situation than any of the super hyped 1OAs.

Did his game change at all after breaking his jaw? He had 9 goals his first 13 games in the league. Only 16 goals in the 72 games since. Or was the fast start because the league didn't know him yet.

 

[CantHaveTkachev]

The thing about Mack though is that underneath his early struggles, you could see an absolute beast and physical freak that just hadn't figured it out. Bedard doesn't have that quality.

That and the emergence of Mikko Rantanen...then Cale Makar after

Bedard doesn't have a running mate like McDavid with Draisaitl or a Crosby with Malkin

he's on an island right now