Yeah, Celebrini is an actual NHL C who is better at both ends of the rink right now than Bedard despite being a year younger. Bedard may re-pass him offensively at some point but if I'm building an NHL team I take Celebrini 10 times out of 10.
Has Connor Bedard quietly became underrated ?
- Thread starter Brookbank
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Yeah, Celebrini is an actual NHL C who is better at both ends of the rink right now than Bedard despite being a year younger. Bedard may re-pass him offensively at some point but if I'm building an NHL team I take Celebrini 10 times out of 10.
If he was playing a 1 on 1 game, sure. But this is a team game and his team has failed so far.
Celebrini has played 15 games..... he's played with much better players Bedard has and Michkov.
You're valuing 15 games over 3-4 years of what we've seen from both where Celebrini wasn't close at any age.
I highly doubt Celebrini has a rookie year better than Bedard when all is said and done.
I'll give Michov the nod for now over Bedard since he has the same pedigree as Bedard, Celebrini tracks with Fantilli and Carlsson, he's had a great 15 games, matching both Bedard and Michkovs first 15 games.
If Celebrini keeps this up for a full year and ends up with the 65 points in 69 games he's pacing for then he'll match Bedard offensively while being more complete, i'll then be open to the discussion
Darren McCord
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Generational players elevate the team around them. The Blackhawks are a bad team but Bedard should be able to separate himself from the other players on his own team more.
Celebrini has been better at both ends so far this year, that's true and he's younger. Bedard at 18 was better at both ends in his first 15 games last year than Bedard at 19 as well.
It's an extremely small sample size to hitch your wagon to when we have 3-4 years of development that shows up Bedard was far ahead of Celebrini before this season.
Who knows, maybe Celebrini just translated perfect to the NHL and he ends up the better player, that's not out of the question. But to say you'd pick him 10 out of 10 you'd have to be a sharks homer or just delusional.
Celebrini will always be the better 2way player but as far as offensive talent, there's no chance you actually believe Celebrini has the edge there. The way i see it, best case scenario for both, they end up being Toews and Kane, and i've always been team Kane.
winnipegger
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I wonder why bedard can't score. It's a bit weird. Foolish to write the book on a player before they turn 20 though.
at 19?... While being 5'10" 180?
Only players who have lifted their entire teams at that age were Crosby, Ovie and Lindros. McDavid didnt even do that. And those three guys have a lot in common, they were all built like bulls.
Celebrini sure as shit isn't elevating his team either., it's very rare as a teen
McDavid had 100 points, won the Hart and got the Oilers back in the playoffs for the first time in a decade in his sophomore season.
He just looks off... like he's playing with a 70% charged battery. I wouldn't be shocked to find out he wasn't fully healthy at the end of the year. I'm not trying to make excuses, as there's nothing to indicate that he's actually hurt, i'm just saying it looks like he's not at full capacity. If it's not an injury it's a compete problem.
He's playing poor hockey by his standards but still is putting up 17 points in 23 games so i'm not overly concerned.
I AM concerned with the goal scoring, with his shot he should be top 5 in the league in goal scoring every year. If only they drafted Demidov we would see in a year or two what he could do with a legit playmaker on his wing.
Well then i stand corrected, when i typed that i felt like Edmonton were bottom feeders for a few years after McDavid
Sample size fellas
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Darren McCord
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Just looked it up
Rookie year they finished last in the league
Sophomore year they were 4th in the west, 8th in the league
year 3 11th in the west 22nd in the league
year 4 they were 2nd worst in west 26th in the league
It took year 5 until Edmonton to become a steady good playoff team. Sophomore year looked to be an outlier, and McDavid had Drai at a PPG that year, Eberle, Lucic, RNH, a lot more help than current Bedard has.
I do want to be clear here, i'm not trying to compare Bedard to McDavid
You're correct, nevermind that blunder, i was thinking goals per game from an argument 2 days ago and that lead no longer exists
Fatass
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Video Nasty
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Some things to consider.
While the total number of goals is exactly the same, there are 63.5% fewer PP goals scored in 2024-2025 compared to 2005-2006. There are 96.3% fewer PPOs as well.
The current Blackhawks are tied for last in goals scored and are second to last in GPG. Their pace puts them at 207 goals over 82 games.
The Blues, Blackhawks, and Blue Jackets of 2005-2006 were the only teams that scored fewer than 230 goals. They had 197, 211, and 223.
Last season, scoring was technically 1% higher than in 2005-2006. We saw Chicago finish last with 179. San Jose had 181. These two would have both cleared the last Blues of 2005-2006 by 16+ fewer goals.
There’s context here that is being lost. Doesn’t mean Bedard was better than or even equal to Crosby in their respective rookie campaigns, but Crosby isn’t scoring 102 points as a rook without power plays being juiced through the roof or on a team that couldn’t or can barely scrape 200 goals in a league where the average is 250+.
Either way, Crosby proved himself by going out and immediately lighting the league on fire as a sophomore through 2/3rds of the season and scooping up all the hardware he did. Bedard is nowhere near this level.
I do wonder how much longer he can remain snake bitten. For a kid who potted 9 goals in his first 13 games on 43 shots, his ice-cold scoring touch since has been perplexing.
McFlash97
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People here acting like the Hawks have no talent. Are you kidding me ? Seth Jones ? Hall ? Teravainen, Kurashev, Bertuzzi, Foligno. There is more than enough talent for a " generational player" to be making significant progress. He'll be fine. He's not at McDavid pedigree though. Sorry Hawks fans.
Video Nasty
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The only people who expected McDavid caliber were the most die-hard Crosby fans who will grasp onto anything that might make McDavid seem a little less special.
I agree to a point though. I don’t understand why Bedard isn’t generating more offense, regardless of who is around him. Before his last game where he had 4 shots, he only took 8 total over the previous 8 games. What the hell is going on?
Those who watch him night in and night out, what is your take?
Crow
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It’s obvious you don’t watch these players anymore. I don’t really blame you though.
Luigi Lemieux
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I think it shows why smaller skill players struggle so much in the nhl and many end up in Europe or stuck in the ahl forever. Obviously Bedard is too talented for that and will still be a star, but if you're small it's really tough to create separation from nhl level defenders. I know he's listed at 5-10 but he looks more like he's 5-8 or 5-9.
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He measured 5'9.75" at the combine. He didn't shrink, he may not have grown.
All these things can be true:
- Bedard isn't living up to his hype this year - mostly because the hype was astronomical
- He could still hit a ceiling of generational but it's less likely today than it was in September
- His shot still looks top 2-3 in the league as a 19yo - if he can figure out how to use it
- He's likely going to pick it up as the season goes on
- Other prospects (Michkov, Celebrini, Fantilli, Carlsson) may have had great starts and/or are comparable or even better in certain situations
- Nobody has any idea which player is the right player to build a team around as of today - it's way way too early, and anyone claiming otherwise is being entirely too confident
Tell me you know absolutely nothing about those players without telling me you know absolutely nothing about those players.
My guess is his motivation has changed, last year was about the Calder, this year the team in front isnt help much (even Hall was scratched).
He has the skill just looks confused not sure what the hard work put is has what purpose. Gotta work through adversity to show more compete level even if not scoring.
He has the skill just looks confused not sure what the hard work put is has what purpose. Gotta work through adversity to show more compete level even if not scoring.
HeadLiceHatty
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I think now that he’s been put on the wing he can kind of relax, and play his game and be the offensive dynamo he is, he was never meant to be a center imo. Kid loves hockey and really cares, I hope he hits that next gear.
DitchMarner
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Have a feeling he's going to have himself a game against T'rana tonight. Hope I'm wrong. I'll try to focus on him quite a bit either way.
