Years ago when I first heard of this phenom kid named Bedard that could be the “next one”. The first question I asked was how was his skating. Then i looked at his size. And felt pretty confident McDavids throne would be secure for a number of years still.
He rarely takes the faceoffs in the offensive or defensive zones.
That's fair but my point was that as prospects they didn't look all that different in long term NHL projections.
My bet is that he stays at center as there are centers who don't do well in the dot like Jack Hughes for instance.
My opinion has nothing to do with Face off ability. Bedard is a winger because of his skill-set. Lots of guys, even D men, can win draws. Bedard is bad at face offs. But that’s a skill he can improve. However, his skills are those best suited to a winger. If he had a great centre he’d score 60 every year., Bedard should be a finisher, who doesn’t have to think about defending so much.,
Crosby played with guys like Colby Armstrong and Andy Hilbert his rookie season.
He is also a puck dominant player but I see your point he could be a kaprizov/Kane type winger who has a centers impact on driving offenseproblem is hawks have no other centers and while his skating isn't elite it isn't bad and has great vision and play reading ability with great hands to make plays as a center but he is a guy who would be better off being the offense only guy at wing who doesn't have to worry about downloading as a center. The center position requires good/great defense to get the puck back and up ice quicker and more frequent right now his skating isn't good enough to rove around the dzone and he still isn't seeing how the offensive play is developing against him to make reads and position himself in the proper lanes to cause disruptions and takeaways he plays with a good motor and really shouldn't be asked to both the heavy lifting offensively and defensively as 1c I like the idea of him taking the Hughes approach of being wing for a minute until his physical attributes catchup for him to dominate the middle of the ice.
He’s heating up already. I really wouldn’t worry too much.
This kind of stuff is too early to tell as a guy like Mack and Draisaitl didn't hit the ground running either.
Cooley is probably not in that class, but he is (a) only one year older than Bedard, (b) was a very high draft pick and (c) has a .87 PPG in the NHL this season
I like cooley alot but this is how they stack up so far.
Bedard is for sure a more dangerous offensive player than Cooley, but Cooley is a much more complete center at this stage. Yeah, he's a year ahead, but I doubt Bedard will ever be anywhere near as well rounded as Cooley. While Cooley will likely never approach Bedard's offensive totals, I think Cooley's upside scenario is a better overall player than Bedard's downside.
Likely comparable to Slafkovski vs Cooley as Cooley was not the number 1 draft pick.. or are you referring to style of play ?
I omitted Slafkovsky in error. He would also be in the "peer" category as a young highly touted on draft day forward.
What exactly do you mean by much more complete?
Once again, not even sure what you are getting at here Cooley isn't going to develop into some Selke type of center is he?
What does this even mean?
Much better defensively.
He could become an elite 2 way all situations 1C. He;s obviously not there yet, but he has the rights skillset and approach to the game.
We're 3 years removed from Cooley's draft, I don't think every top 3 pick has that sort of upside. And we know Bedard's downside is much better than a bust.
Bedard's downside is probably a 30-35 goal 90-100 point perimeter winger. Cooley's upside is a 35 goal 90+ point 2 way center.
I think it probably does too, but Bedard has fallen short of my expectations twice now, so who knows.
I don't really have much concern regarding face-offs....at this point anyway. Without doing a deep dive, I think most young players simply aren't great on draws....it's something you need to work on and improve as you work your way into the NHL. Crosby was bad when he first came into the league, he's one of the best now. Matthews wasn't great at the start, really good now....he got there pretty quick too (size probably helps as well). Depends on what guys prioritize as well. McDavid wasn't good, got better over team, took time to get there, this year he's not good....so not a major thing he focuses on I'm guessing. MacKinnon has never really been good. If someone is not good on draws, but you think they are best suited at centre anyway, you can work with that....just have them take less draws than they otherwise would if they were really good. Use Crosby as the comparative, this year he's taken 949 draws, MacKinnon, 725, Hughes - 434 and McDavid - 409. As MacKinnon isn't very good at it, I'm pretty surprised how many draws he takes (he's #9 in the league)....though I think that is the combination of his huge ice-time + the fact that COL simply seems to be bad at it as a team, so no point having someone else take them instead
Richardson was actively putting him out against other teams shutdown guys. He was matching him against Barkov Hintz Lowry Eriksson Ek at home.
Overall we are going to agree to disagree here in that any difference that Cooley might attain in his 2 way game won't make up for the big lead Bedard already has in the offensive department every year post draft.
I think there is something to be said for trajectory as well. Cooley has very clearly taken a big step in his sophomore season where Bedard has stagnated (and arguably regressed).
