Has Connor Bedard quietly became underrated ?

[ijuka]

Bedard scored 90 goals and 186 pts in 71 games in his draft year.
Mcdavid scored 68 goals and 180 pts in 74 games in his draft year.
The hype was well deserved for Bedard at that time.

Yeah, though WHL is not OHL. See the quality of players that have come from one league vs the other.

 

[ViD]

Bedard will no doubt be a fantastic player. However, wouldn't surprise me if his physical tools will limit his dominance. Kinda small and doesn't have that outrageous speed like McDavid or the strenght/speed combo of MacKinnon etc.

A guy like that just scored 144 points..

 

[TruePowerSlave]

A guy like that just scored 144 points..

We will see if Bedard ever reaches something like that. Time will tell.

 

[Regal]

Bedard scored 90 goals and 186 pts in 71 games in his draft year.
Mcdavid scored 68 goals and 180 pts in 74 games in his draft year.
The hype was well deserved for Bedard at that time.

The numbers were certainly there to justify the hype. But scouting goes beyond just junior production and I think it was easy to focus on the numbers and gloss over the questions of whether he could translate his production as well as McDavid did, due to his skating and size.

 

[Acallabeth]

I think even if he finishes this season 15 + 65, I would not call it a horrific season for him, just underwhelming

80 points is nothing to sniff at.
15 goals in a full season for a player whose shot was considered his strongest asset (and even one of the best ever) during his draft year would be somewhat perplexing.

 

[Dicky113]

A guy like that just scored 144 points..

3” in height is a huge difference though. Having said that, Patrick Kane/Kucherov is still within realm of possibility; he just isn’t getting to McDavid/Crosby/Ovechkin level.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

80 points is nothing to sniff at.
15 goals in a full season for a player whose shot was considered his strongest asset (and even one of the best ever) during his draft year would be somewhat perplexing.

The biggest issue lately is he's just not shooting the puck.

Only 6 shots in his last 6 games after 49 in his first 14 games. It makes me think he might be dealing with an upper body injury. Either that, or his shooting confidence is just completely shot (which is believable given his challenges with beating goalies this year).

I'm still 100% confident he's gonna turn it around to become one of the league's top scorers down the road.

 

[RANDOMH3RO]

Bedard will 100% be a top talent hart trophy level player. Progression isn’t linear though, things aren’t always trending up. A rough couple months as a 19 year old is pretty reasonable.

 

[Panthaz89]

The numbers were certainly there to justify the hype. But scouting goes beyond just junior production and I think it was easy to focus on the numbers and gloss over the questions of whether he could translate his production as well as McDavid did, due to his skating and size.

I mean compared to Juniors he hasn't been nearly as accurate with his shots.....I have a feeling it will come eventually and he will explode to over PPG levels and will be competing for an Art Ross eventually once it does I doubt he remains a 5-10% shooting pct for the rest of his career back in juniors he already had a deadlier shot than most of the NHL.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I mean compared to Juniors he hasn't been nearly as accurate with his shots.....I have a feeling it will come eventually and he will explode to over PPG levels and will be competing for an Art Ross eventually once it does I doubt he remains a 5-10% shooting pct for the rest of his career back in juniors he already had a deadlier shot than most of the NHL.

I think a lot of that is just due to the fact he has less time and space to get his shot off, and less net to shoot at. Hard to be as precise under pressure.

 

[Peasy]

I think a lot of that is just due to the fact he has less time and space to get his shot off, and less net to shoot at. Hard to be as precise under pressure.

This. When he has time to lock and load, his shot is obviously very elite. But i dont really see the insane quick release from less than ideal positions/set ups guys like Matthews or Guenther can do.

Like go watch all of Matthews' goals, his patent toe drag snap shot are just a fraction of the goals he scores.

 

[Hawkaholic]

He has zero help, still. When he is one the ice, they can just shadow him, because they don't have to worry about any other player burning them like Bedard can. Couple that with his coach purposely putting him out there vs. Barkov on home ice, and neutering all offense the team has for sake of better defensive play, we won't see how good Bedard can be until he gets some actual decent linemates for more than a handful of games, and until he gets a coach that knows how to coach.

 

[LevelingSolo]

He’ll probably turn out pretty good but so far he just doesn’t carry the “generational” hype of Crosby, Ovechkin, McDavid etc

We've had almost the exact same thread for Slafkovsky, Jack Hughes and Lafreniere, this place will never learn.

Apples and oranges, Bedard had way more hype coming into the League

 

[Regal]

I mean compared to Juniors he hasn't been nearly as accurate with his shots.....I have a feeling it will come eventually and he will explode to over PPG levels and will be competing for an Art Ross eventually once it does I doubt he remains a 5-10% shooting pct for the rest of his career back in juniors he already had a deadlier shot than most of the NHL.

I think it will definitely come, but as others said I think he has less time and space and he’s going to need time to adjust and adapt to that and perhaps find news ways to gain space because he doesn’t have the physical attributes or some others. But I think that’s all part of the question of whether he’ll be a Kane-level player or something beyond that.

 

[Juxtaposer]

Crazy how so many people in this thread are pretending we didn't hear "Bedard is generational" constantly during his draft year.

 

[belfour30]

His coach is misusing him.
Last night and today Richardson admitted:
1. He wanted him to match up with Barkov
2. He's using Bedard's line as a shutdown line.

This is coaching malpractice.

 

[Fyodorov]

Crazy how so many people in this thread are pretending we didn't hear "Bedard is generational" constantly during his draft year.

The level of spin and revisionist history is off the charts, but that's not surprising lol

If, in July 2023, you suggested he would "only" have a career like Patrick Kane or Nikita Kucherov, you would be attacked by a HF mob for not "understanding" his generational abilities.

 

[Turin]

He'll be fine. GM needs to get him a winger and a real coach.

 

[Voight]

Bedard was playing on pace to beat Forsbergs record. But things tightened up in later rounds.

Peter Forsberg put up an unthinkable 31 points in seven games at the 1993 World Junior Championships. That’s an average of 4.43 points per game. Bedard was averaging 4.50 points per game. The Swedish defense was actually aware of the record and were playing to save it.

The Swedish defence was aimed squarely at preventing Bedard from adding to his tournament-leading six goals and they managed to do that. But Bedard simply pivoted to setting up his teammates, tallying four assists in a dominant 5-1 win.

I noticed you had nothing to say about the Jagr record

It's worth noting Foppa had the good fortune of playing Japan and he beat the hell out of them with 10 points.

 

[Voight]

Malkin clearly wasn't a factor during Crosby's rookie year. Acting like he's at all relevant is what's actually insane.

And McDavid didn't even play with Hall after his first 5 games. Hall and Draisaitl played together.

McDavid played primarily with Eberle and Pouliot. You think Bedard could have finished top 3 league wide in ppg with those linemates?

The 2006 Pens had six other players score 40 points. Last years Blackhawks had one player other than Bedard do that.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

The 2006 Pens had six other players score 40 points. Last years Blackhawks had one player other than Bedard do that.

Crosby scored 102 points. No amount of linemate excuses closes that gap.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Yeah, though WHL is not OHL. See the quality of players that have come from one league vs the other.

Typically speaking, WHL is the hardest league to score in the CHL, with QMJHL being the easiest.

 

[BlueSeal]

He's a "small" guy with great talent who plays imo a meat and potatoes game. Those are the guys you underestimate who become the backbone of all of your success. Thanks to how highly everyone views folks like how Crosby and McDavid is being mentioned like mad in this thread, Bedard is a guy you'll underestimate and won't see coming until its too late.

The funny part? Neither Crosby nor McDavid won the Calder.

 

[authentic]

He's a "small" guy with great talent who plays imo a meat and potatoes game. Those are the guys you underestimate who become the backbone of all of your success. Thanks to how highly everyone views folks like how Crosby and McDavid is being mentioned like mad in this thread, Bedard is a guy you'll underestimate and won't see coming until its too late.

The funny part? Neither Crosby nor McDavid won the Calder.

No but they led the NHL in scoring their 2nd season. Bedard is far from what they were at the same age.

 

[Waterbuf]

The trash team around him has killed all excitement, momentum, and now even hope.