It was not 'pace', he just padded his stats against the worst team in the tournament that wouldn't even be allowed to play if the WJC was best-on-best. It's not the NHL when you can count pace expecting more or less comparable competition all season.
What Bedard did in the WJCs was phenomenally impressive, full stop. He was money for Canada, scoring huge goals vs USA and obviously Slovakia. His clutch play in those first two elimination games were far more impressive than his 23 points IMO. He had a historic tournament.
That said, his WJC point totals were inarguably inflated by playing in a diluted tournament, an impact that was further magnified by the fact that his skill set is tailor made for running up the score against teams like Latvia and Germany, which is why he was able to take them apart for 13 points in those 2 games.
Bedard's skill set is so incredibly dangerous against opponents that give more time and space. He's probably the most dangerous prospect I've ever seen when given space in the offensive zone, even more dangerous than 87 and 97. This is because he's a threat to score from distance, while also having the vision and deception to setup teammates for wide open looks and the quickness and puck skills to dangle defenders trying to step up on him in the high slot (which they are forced to do because of his ability to score from the outside). This is the same skill set that makes Kucherov such an elite scorer.
But in tighter checking games, Bedard can quickly become a non-factor without a linemate to draw attention and create space for him, whereas 87 and 97 could create space with their skating and power. This is one of the reasons I'm still bullish on his upside as a 50+ goal 110+ point guy - give Bedard a running mate that can be Point to his Kucherov and he'll light it up. It's also why I think moving to wing for a few years makes more sense for him.
Going back to his WJC, he was much less effective at 5v5 in the medal rounds vs the bigger, stronger defensive cores (like Czechia, who held him to only 1 point in 2 games).
His 5 points in 3 medal round games was still impressive, but he didn't really separate himself from his teammates like he did in the round robin:
Bedard 3g 5p
Roy 2g 5p
Guenther 3g 4p
Clarke 1g 4p
This isn't to take anything away from Bedard's historic, clutch performance. But the context is helpful in understanding why his statistical dominance in the WJC wasn't enough to propel him into the Crosby/McDavid tier.
