Has Connor Bedard quietly became underrated ?

[MuckOG]

Bedard tracks to be the same size as Crosby. And has trees for legs right now. It's surprising that ppl don't know this

We can pull up pictures of all sorts of players that have tree trunks for legs. That's not unusual at all these days.

Crosby's first 2 seasons were 102 and 120 points, respectively, at a time when scoring in the NHL was down (as compared to today). Bedard wasn't even a PPG player last year and I doubt he will hit the 120 point mark this season.

 

[Figgy44]

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 ?

I recall he was considered generational, but I don't think it was truly serious that he was on the same plane as CMD and Crosby. More like he'd carry the torch for the next generation of top tier talent after those guys pass their peaks and primes. At the very least he's a totally different archetype than those two so you can't directly compare them. It also wasn't certain how he'd adjust to the NHL beyond a few guesses, so somewhere down the road, I think the narrative changed to "He'll still dominate, but by how much?" IMO right now he's still an elite talent, but a little bit of wondering which season he will catch fire. I don't think he's underrated, I think a lots of people whether they've realized it or not have assumed his trajectory might be a little bit like Mack IMO and that includes the fact the Hawks roster needs to be overhauled to support him for that explosion. Many just trying to figure who will be in those top spots until he goes full steam ahead. This is just my opinion though. I could be totally wrong.

He rocketed out of the gates as a rookie, but I think that injury pulled a lot of the spotlight off of him and focusing on him via the Calder race wasn't effective. Then there was the Bedard's mom/Corey Perry stuff and I wonder if the Hawks and league just decided to cool the jets on hyping up Bedard for a moment and basically shut down most of the media around the Hawks. I wonder if at this time a lot of media and speculation just naturally turned to a bunch of people looking for dark horses and sleepers.

TBH, I don't recall hearing as much about the Hawks past the TDL as an outside fan other than the blip around the awards ceremony. Honestly speaking, there were a lot of really good stories last season. Not just the Calder race, but the playoffs too. Then just prior to this season starting, 13/21 dominated the media and perhaps no one dared to start hyping anyone else (out of respect), but I think this may start up again once we're a few games into the regular season. Just so many stories worth focusing on other than Bedard in 2024. A rarity.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Bedard tracks to be the same size as Crosby. And has trees for legs right now. It's surprising that ppl don't know this

And somehow he's still waaaaaay weaker on the puck than teenage Crosby.

 

[MuckOG]

eh if he can become the best player in league in a 3-5 year window I would think thats close enough again that chicago team is awful atm

Setting aside his Cups and multiple awards, part of what makes Crosby "generational", was how good he was immediately out of the gate and how consistently great of a player he still is 20 years later. He scored 94 points as a 36 year old! In 20 years, he's never had a sub-PPG season.

Also, the 2005-2006 Penguins had about the same amount of ineptitude as the Blackhawks last season. Crosby wasn't exactly surround by great talent either.

It does a disservice to Bedard to try and compare him to a player like Crosby.

 

[Brookbank]

Someone said he only beat Faber because of the hype

Bedard led rookies in goals (22) and points (61) and tied Faber for first in assists (39) despite missing 14 games with a broken jaw. He had 28 points (seven goals, 21 assists) in his final 29 games.

 

[MuckOG]

Someone said he only beat Faber because of the hype

Bedard led rookies in goals (22) and points (61) and tied Faber for first in assists (39) despite missing 14 games with a broken jaw. He had 28 points (seven goals, 21 assists) in his final 29 games.

...and Faber played the last 2 months of the season with broken ribs.

 

[Brookbank]

Setting aside his Cups and multiple awards, part of what makes Crosby "generational", was how good he was immediately out of the gate and how consistently great of a player he still is 20 years later. He scored 94 points as a 36 year old! In 20 years, he's never had a sub-PPG season.

Also, the 2005-2006 Penguins had about the same amount of ineptitude as the Blackhawks last season. Crosby wasn't exactly surround by great talent either.

It does a disservice to Bedard to try and compare him to a player like Crosby.

Crosby didn't win the Calder in 05/06

Out of the gate, losing the Calder

 

[MuckOG]

Crosby didn't win the Calder in 05/06

Out of the gate, losing the Calder

That's right. Ovechkin won it (52 goals, 54 assists). McDavid didn't win the Calder either. Does that mean Bedard is better than McDavid?

Crosby has never had a sub-PPG season, Bedard's first season was sub-PPG.

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

Both the 06 penguins and the 15-16 Oilers finished 1 point away from last place. Their rosters were in similar spots to the Blackhawks last season.

ok but mcdavid still got to play with guys like hall, rnh, eberle, draisaitl. bedards best teammates last year were *checks notes* philip kurashev and jason dickinson???

 

[Brookbank]

I'm glad someone else asked as that is the first thing I was trying to figure out....I've never seen that phrase before.....and it was doubled down, so obviously not a slip. Can someone explain what this means?

My assumption is that "retail level" means out in the general public beyond actual hockey guys. If that's the case, he certainly was not hyped at that level. But again....is this saying even a thing? Am I that out of touch?

Basically it means the general public yes. Seasons tickets for the Hawks spiked when it was known that he was drafted.

ok but mcdavid still got to play with guys like hall, rnh, eberle, draisaitl. bedards best teammates last year were *checks notes* philip kurashev and jason dickinson???

And then there was the Penguins

 

[BLNY]

Jesus Christ

What's his draft year?

 

[TLEH]

We can pull up pictures of all sorts of players that have tree trunks for legs. That's not unusual at all these days.

Crosby's first 2 seasons were 102 and 120 points, respectively, at a time when scoring in the NHL was down (as compared to today). Bedard wasn't even a PPG player last year and I doubt he will hit the 120 point mark this season.

Penguins scored 70 more goals than the Hawks did during Crosbys rookie season. League wide scoring numbers didn’t seem to affect the 2023-2024 Hawks.

 

[MuckOG]

Basically it means the general public yes. Seasons tickets for the Hawks spiked when it was known that he was drafted.


And then there was the Penguins

That's right. 39 year old Mario and his 26 games played and 22 points really made all the difference in Crosby putting up 102 points.

 

[Prettyisland]

What's his draft year?

Undrafted. He was good but old heads say his dad was better

 

[snag]

I just wanna know if the OP would die on this hill if Beddard played for the Oil

 

[Grifter3511]

That's right. 39 year old Mario and his 26 games played and 22 points really made all the difference in Crosby putting up 102 points.

I agree that Crosby is better, but I'd also argue that Crosby had it easier playing with Leclair, Recchi, Palffy, etc. Even as shells of their former selves that's significantly better than what Bedard played with.

 

[Voight]

3 years ago.

His underage year was short due to COVID, but FWIW he paced for 126 points that year.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

Someone said he only beat Faber because of the hype

Bedard led rookies in goals (22) and points (61) and tied Faber for first in assists (39) despite missing 14 games with a broken jaw. He had 28 points (seven goals, 21 assists) in his final 29 games.

He out scored a defenseman who was also injured but playing. Congrats?

 

[Brookbank]

He out scored a defenseman who was also injured but playing. Congrats?

Bedards junior numbers were better than Mcdavid's on worse teams. Do you want to compare them to Fabers junior numbers or something ?

McDavid was considered a hall of famer before he played an NHL game. And at the very least , we can say that Bedard matched him.

 

[Thallis]

Being compared to McDavid as a prospect is also pretty instructive that he's not on the same level. When a prospect is at McDavid or Crosby's level the question is usually if they're the next Gretzky or Lemieux instead of current generational player.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Bedards junior numbers were better than Mcdavid's on worse teams. Do you want to compare them to Fabers junior numbers or something ?

McDavid was considered a hall of famer before he played an NHL game. And at the very least , we can say that Bedard matched him.

Jonathan Drouin had better junior numbers than Mackinnon while playing on the same team.

Anyone who actually watched bedard more than the box scores saw this coming. Great talent, but nowhere near Sid and McDavid.

 

[Dickie Dunn]

Bedards junior numbers were better than Mcdavid's on worse teams. Do you want to compare them to Fabers junior numbers or something ?

McDavid was considered a hall of famer before he played an NHL game. And at the very least , we can say that Bedard matched him.

Good luck with that "if/then" argument. We will check back in a few years. Alexei Yashin was going to be a future hall of famer too.

 

[FlyguyOX]

No, still overrated

 

[Brookbank]

Good luck with that "if/then" argument. We will check back in a few years. Alexei Yashin was going to be a future hall of famer too.

Im pretty confident that it's the posters comparing Bedard to Cliff Ronning and Pat Kane that are going to be the ones eating receipts. Perhaps in a few months even.

 

[MuckOG]

Bedards junior numbers were better than Mcdavid's on worse teams. Do you want to compare them to Fabers junior numbers or something ?

McDavid was considered a hall of famer before he played an NHL game. And at the very least , we can say that Bedard matched him.

I'm sorry, maybe I missed it....but when did junior numbers become a criteria for the Calder trophy?

Im pretty confident that it's the posters comparing Bedard to Cliff Ronning and Pat Kane that are going to be the ones eating receipts. Perhaps in a few months even.

Obviously, Bedard will be a better player than Cliff Ronning, but you are the one that keeps touting his "generational" junior numbers, not me.

I think Kane is a good comparable. Both offensively great, but a little on the smaller side, physically. Bedard might end up with slightly better numbers. Kane is a career PPG and an overall elite player (and one of my favorite all time players), not sure why that comparison offends you.