Has Connor Bedard quietly became underrated ?

[Reality Czech]

Connor Bedard was hyped at the retail level in his daft year. And was compared to Mcdavid or Crosby. But as his first year came and went , the hardcore fans and analysts were not as onboard with it anymore.

Something changed. We even have some fans trying to upsell Jack Hughs and Logan Cooley on him.

Now it's not considered serious to compare him to Mcdavid or Crosby. Why is this ?

There's no guarantee he'll be better than Jack Hughes.

 

[authentic]

You are proving the point that Bedards stock has fallen.

But what are you basing this nonsense on ? He was the 3rd youngest player to record a 5 point game last year, with a jaw brace on.

Nonsense? Thinking he won’t be in the running for a top 5 player of all-time is nonsense now?

I don’t know how you believe what I said proves anything when none of us have crystal balls. You should also read some of my past posts about my projections for Bedard, if you think I’m selling him short your expectations might be a little too high for him.

 

[Zalos]

Not underrated, no. He's going to be a 100+ points producer yearly when his team becomes anywhere near good.

 

[The Panther]

I was a little surprised a month or two ago when people here were predicting the top-10 scorers for 2025-26 and, like, nobody picked Bedard.

Not saying he'll be there, but there's every chance he will. As one of the younger NHL players in League history last season, playing on one of the worst teams of the Salary-Cap era, he scored 51 points in 52 games.

Too early to make any career predictions, but I would not at all be surprised if he pushed towards a top-10 scoring position this season. It will probably require the Blackhawks being a bit better, though...

 

[archangel2]

While not generational he will have a great career if he stays healthy. Everyone knows he is going to get a lot better. Only people saying he is underrated are either Hawk fans or guys in fantasy league that need their ego stroked over getting such a good player

 

[Egresch]

Well it looks like he is untouchable at first. Terrible defending by Sergachev. If all defenders avoid contact like this, Bedard will definitely get 100 pts.

https://x.com/i/web/status/1843860812559200432

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I'm not even certain Bedard will be a center long term - he has some of the worst defensive habits I have every seen, and constantly flies the zone and cherry picks. He's mostly a perimeter player at this point. Luckily, he has that elite deception and skill ala Kucherov and Kane to still be productive from the outside. Maybe he is able to get to the middle a bit more as he matures, but I'm not sure he'll ever have the strength or athleticism to be super effective in the corners or around the net.

Despite his baby face, he's pretty physically mature for a teenager, like Crosby was. They actually had very similar dimensions as teens: Bedard 5'10 185 vs 18 y/o Crosby at 5'11 193.

But while teenage Sid was quicker and stronger on the puck than 99% of the league at 18, Bedard is probably weaker than 99% of the league, and has at best average agility. And I don't think Bedard's frame could really support much more than 190lbs without hurting his agility.

There's no guarantee he'll be better than Jack Hughes.

I do think Bedard can become a better point producer than Hughes, but he's not going to be able to dictate the pace and drive play through the middle of the ice like Hughes.

If Bedard becomes as good as Hughes, Hawks fans should be thrilled with that outcome.

 

[Wasted Talent]

It's always good to remember Betteridge's law of headlines:

"Any headline that ends in a question mark can be answered by the word no."

 

[Rec T]

He was the consensus #1 draft pick by far, a step above the other top ones (Carlsson & Fantilli). The word 'generational' was thrown around by some ... usually those hoping for clicks though. Most everyone else saw a very high ceiling for him but not generational ... something that is most likely true provided that he can stay more or less healthy for his career.

Underrated/underexposed, sure perhaps some. However that is probably more a factor of him being on a putrid team (for now) that doesn't get/warrant a lot of coverage.

He's doing fine (and is probably going to benefit from the lack of ongoing serious media pressure)

 

[SUX2BU]

 

[NyQuil]

The OP has a really hard time distinguishing between analysis and clickbait.

 

[Fatass]

View attachment 913894

Exactly! If anything Bedard is overrated with all the media attention he gets promoting him as the next face of the game.

 

[AfroThunder396]

There were certainly some clickbait articles comparing Bedard to generational elites like Crosby and McDavid. People who genuinely put him ahead of the likes of Matthews, J. Hughes, Panarin, MacKinnon, Pastrnak, etc as an 18 year old rookie are not serious people and their analysis should not have been taken serious by anyone.

Mainstream hockey media, at least traditional media like ESPN and TSN, are obviously going to hype up a heralded prospect going to an Original 6 franchise trying to regain its glory. It's called marketing. The media embellishes things to get your attention. The Blackhawks getting Crosby 2.0 is a great story. If you genuinely fell for the hype and believed it, that's a you problem.

Bedard is a very talented young forward who, like all young forwards, needs a few years in the league before we figure out what he is.

 

[Breakers]

I’d put sergachev on franking waivers for that BS

WTF was that?
Ohh it’s Bedard, better not touch him

You’re trying to build a culture on a new team and you decide to let a player walk around you

 

[Number8]

Connor Bedard was hyped at the retail level in his daft year. And was compared to Mcdavid or Crosby. But as his first year came and went , the hardcore fans and analysts were not as onboard with it anymore.

Something changed. We even have some fans trying to upsell Jack Hughs and Logan Cooley on him.

Now it's not considered serious to compare him to Mcdavid or Crosby. Why is this ?

Ah, the good old days. We were just naïve kids back then, but they sure were sweet.

Now of course enough time has passed that it is clear that he will far surpass McDavid and Crosby.

So while it was fun to compare Bedard to those two when there was even a hint of seriousness about the discussion, now it's just silly to do that.

I now compare him to God. Much more realistic and more productive.

 

[Hawkaholic]

2pts/GP this season. Generational

 

[Voight]

TSN/Sportsnet going berserk with the hype was never a surprise, but it wasn’t fair to the kid. He’s not and never will be the McCrosby tier.

Thats a hot take.

PPG finish in rookie season
Mackinnon 52nd
Bedard 58th
Crosby 6th
McDavid 3rd

Going in to his rookie season I thought he would be the next Crosby class rookie, so I was a bit dissapointed. I still think he has great potential though.

To be fair, the 2024 Blackhawks were much worse of a team than the 14 Avalanche, 06 Pens and 16 Oilers.

 

[Letsdothis]

I have my doubts about his effectivity as a center long time. He's not McDavid or Crosby, and I doubt he'll ever be MacKinnon/Malkin either, both of whom have overwhelming physical qualities that allow them to excel at center position. After that the best guys you can have to drive success are two-way beasts like Barkov/Kopitar etc.

He'll definitely be one of the best offensive players in the league through his prime. Relative to his era, Patrick Kane with maybe some extra offense on top. Highly doubt he'll ever be the dominant player in the league though.

 

[Jaska]

I was a little surprised a month or two ago when people here were predicting the top-10 scorers for 2025-26 and, like, nobody picked Bedard.

Not saying he'll be there, but there's every chance he will. As one of the younger NHL players in League history last season, playing on one of the worst teams of the Salary-Cap era, he scored 51 points in 52 games.

Too early to make any career predictions, but I would not at all be surprised if he pushed towards a top-10 scoring position this season. It will probably require the Blackhawks being a bit better, though...

Maybe, as long as he gets to cheat on defence. His +/- is the number to watch.

 

[Brookbank]

There's no guarantee he'll be better than Jack Hughes.

Yes there is.

 

[nbwingsfan]

PPG finish in rookie season
Mackinnon 52nd
Bedard 58th
Crosby 6th
McDavid 3rd

Going in to his rookie season I thought he would be the next Crosby class rookie, so I was a bit dissapointed. I still think he has great potential though.

Now compare their supporting casts

Maybe, as long as he gets to cheat on defence. His +/- is the number to watch.

It’s almost 2025 and people still consider +/- a relevant stat?

 

[Faceboner]

The OP has a really hard time distinguishing between analysis and clickbait.

View attachment 913897

People were comparing him to crosby and McDavid the media headlines were all about the potential of the next one being Bedard right or wrong it was a legit comparison due to his dominating fashion in the chl and comparable junior numbers. He is still a High-end 1st oa talent that is can't miss. He will compete for harts rockets and Ross's. Great player but people including me were thinking ppg season as a rookie maybe 90 but still had a phenomenal rookie year and some saw it as a slight that he wasn't a top ten player in a loaded talent pool full of players in their physical peak/prime he still showed dynamic game breaking ability and Uber elite traits like his shot, hands, passing, vision and iq

 

[Brookbank]

While not generational he will have a great career if he stays healthy. Everyone knows he is going to get a lot better. Only people saying he is underrated are either Hawk fans or guys in fantasy league that need their ego stroked over getting such a good player

He is generational. His junior numbers were generational. He was a PPG last year on the worst team in hockey.

The only ppl who are saying he's not , are Oilers and Jack Hugh's fans. Saying he's not generational is like saying Crosby wasn't in 2006 or Mcd wasn't in 2015.

 

[Jaska]

And there are people, who think centers should also play on their team's side of the red line.

 

[Esq]

He is neither underrated nor overrated.

He is simply ... rated.