Has Connor Bedard quietly became underrated ?

[Pablo El Perro]

Expectations were probably too much. He'll be a great forward, not sure that will be as a center.

 

[hirawl]

The same way Chris Tanev isn't held accountable for his OUTRAGEOUSLY bad offensive game, different players do different things.

As someone else said, give him time to mature and gain a more mature frame.

Chris Tanev's lack of offense hardly costs any games.

McDavid's defensive game was just plain laughable when he entered the league. It took him 7 years to get it to acceptable level. 7 years.

And Bedard is ten times worse defensively than McDavid at the same point.

What Chicago is doing is not doing any favors to Bedard the hockey player and his development. And I think it just sucks.

 

[CallMeShaft]

It's a good thing he landed on the Hawks. Wouldn't want to subject his poor defensive play onto any other fanbase. His play is our burden to bare.

 

[MuckOG]

Expectations were probably too much. He'll be a great forward, not sure that will be as a center.

Expectations were WAY too high. He's not the next McDavid or Crosby.

 

[NVious]

Chris Tanev's lack of offense hardly costs any games.

McDavid's defensive game was just plain laughable when he entered the league. It took him 7 years to get it to acceptable level. 7 years.

And Bedard is ten times worse defensively than McDavid at the same point.

What Chicago is doing is not doing any favors to Bedard the hockey player and his development. And I think it just sucks.

Of course it does lmao, you just don't think about it because it's not as obviously "seen" like a bad defensive play directly leading to a goal. But him firing muffin shots, him not making passes, his teammates knowing he's a total non threat in the offensive zone obviously costs the team in the same way bad defensive plays cost the team, it's just one is more easily spotted than the other.

Bad defensive=obvious minus
Bad offense=unrealized +

Same thing.

 

[hirawl]

Of course it does lmao, you just don't think about it because it's not as obviously "seen" like a bad defensive play directly leading to a goal. But him firing muffin shots, him not making passes, his teammates knowing he's a total non threat in the offensive zone obviously costs the team in the same way bad defensive plays cost the team, it's just one is more easily spotted than the other.

Bad defensive=obvious minus
Bad offense=unrealized +

Same thing.

I just honestly hope you don't think these things show equally on scoreboard. If you do I suggest you give it some more thought.

 

[NVious]

I just honestly hope you don't think these things show equally on scoreboard. If you do I suggest you give it some more thought.

You just don't understand basic logic, failing to contribute offensively is just as bad as failing defensively, it's just that one gets a massive pass for some reason whereas the other doesn't, forwards are supposed to all be Kopitar/Bergeron/Barkov, but if a defenseman contributes nothing offensively, all of a sudden "it's not his job."

 

[wetcoast]

The organization he plays for really isn't worried about winning hockey games this year...

With that roster how would they win more games?

 

[ClydeLee]

Expectations were WAY too high. He's not the next McDavid or Crosby.

People that had those expectations were the minority though. I don't know why that's treated like the default state of view at all.

 

[wetcoast]

Expectations were WAY too high. He's not the next McDavid or Crosby.

Most people didn't think so either.

alot of it was his production being on par somewhat then detractors building a huge straw man argument out of it.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

With that roster how would they win more games?

They are a bad team, but I think they should be better than their record. They had a lot of veteran wingers who should have been able to fill in pretty well in lines 2 thru 4 on most teams, and Bedard is obviously a 1st line caliber talent.

Teravainen, Bertuzzi, Foligno, Hall, Donato, Mikheyev, Maroon, Smith... these are all guys with tons of experience playing up and down lineups across the league. Plus younger offensive guys like Reichel and Nazar. And they have a bunch of vets on the backend who should be serviceable + a rising star in Vlasic.

The biggest gap is that Dickinson is really their only "true" center, everyone else would probably be played on the wing on any legit contender.


So yeah, they aren't going to win a lot. But I think moving Bedard to wing and letting him focus more on creating off the rush could help. The other 3 lines would just need to play low event Tortorella style hockey. That's pretty much the way bad teams can be competitive on a more consistent basis.


I'd probably roll something like

Bedard - Foligno - Nazar
Teravainen - Dickinson - Bertuzzi
Kurashev - Donato - Mikheyev
Maroon - Reichel - Smith

 

[MuckOG]

Most people didn't think so either.

alot of it was his production being on par somewhat then detractors building a huge straw man argument out of it.

I agree with this. But there are a loud few in this thread that think otherwise.

 

[wetcoast]

They are a bad team, but I think they should be better than their record. They had a lot of veteran wingers who should have been able to fill in pretty well in lines 2 thru 4 on most teams, and Bedard is obviously a 1st line caliber talent.

Teravainen, Bertuzzi, Foligno, Hall, Donato, Mikheyev, Maroon, Smith... these are all guys with tons of experience playing up and down lineups across the league. Plus younger offensive guys like Reichel and Nazar. And they have a bunch of vets on the backend who should be serviceable + a rising star in Vlasic.

The biggest gap is that Dickinson is really their only "true" center, everyone else would probably be played on the wing on any legit contender.


So yeah, they aren't going to win a lot. But I think moving Bedard to wing and letting him focus more on creating off the rush could help. The other 3 lines would just need to play low event Tortorella style hockey. That's pretty much the way bad teams can be competitive on a more consistent basis.


I'd probably roll something like

Bedard - Foligno - Nazar
Teravainen - Dickinson - Bertuzzi
Kurashev - Donato - Mikheyev
Maroon - Reichel - Smith

Sure I could easily see....well nothing more by reshuffling the chairs on this titanic really.

They just have a really bad team with washed up guys and not enough younger guys ready to take the next step, rebuilds take time.

 

[Mattb124]

Richardson was actively putting him out against other teams shutdown guys. He was matching him against Barkov Hintz Lowry Eriksson Ek at home.

The notion he needs favorable deployment to be successful seems more a slight on Bedard than his former coach.

 

[WarriorofTime]

Most people didn't think so either.

alot of it was his production being on par somewhat then detractors building a huge straw man argument out of it.

Exactly, his over/under point total was 69.5 as a rookie, and he ends up with 61 in 68 games to miss by 8.5 points with 14 missed games, but then people are like "oh everyone thought he would get 100 points right away so he's a bust!"

 

[WarriorofTime]

They are a bad team, but I think they should be better than their record. They had a lot of veteran wingers who should have been able to fill in pretty well in lines 2 thru 4 on most teams, and Bedard is obviously a 1st line caliber talent.

Teravainen,

only commanded 3 years at T-186th largest cap hit in NHL on open market

Bertuzzi,

only commanded 4 years at T-173rd largest cap hit in NHL on open market

Foligno,

2 year deal

Hall,

literal cap dump

Donato,

2-year very cheap deal

Mikheyev,

literal cap dump paid to take on

Maroon,

1-year near minimum player

Smith...

1-year near minimum player

these are all guys with tons of experience playing up and down lineups across the league.

Yes, they are NHL players... The NHL is filled with NHL players.

Plus younger offensive guys like Reichel and Nazar.

Reichel has flirted dangerously close to waiver wire. Nazar was playing college hockey a season ago and played most of the season in AHL>

And they have a bunch of vets on the backend who should be serviceable + a rising star in Vlasic.

The corpse of Martinez and corpse of Brodie counted amongst the serviceable vets? Leaving the overpaid Seth Jones and the sometimes healthy Murphy

The biggest gap is that Dickinson is really their only "true" center, everyone else would probably be played on the wing on any legit contender.

That and the Hawks lack the premier NHL talent that isn't reduced to a single teenager that even the mediocre teams have.

So yeah, they aren't going to win a lot. But I think moving Bedard to wing and letting him focus more on creating off the rush could help.

Maybe but Hawks are not a "Bedard on Wing" away from being a competitive team right now.

The other 3 lines would just need to play low event Tortorella style hockey. That's pretty much the way bad teams can be competitive on a more consistent basis.

They had Luke Richardson and did exactly did that. They lost games and didn't score goals. Now, they still lose games but sometimes score.

I'd probably roll something like

Bedard - Foligno - Nazar
Teravainen - Dickinson - Bertuzzi
Kurashev - Donato - Mikheyev
Maroon - Reichel - Smith

That's fine, many lines have been run to various levels of success, but fundamentally the Hawks just have mediocre talent that requires almost all players to be playing about 0.5 to 1.5 lines "up" in the lineup compared to where they'd play on any playoff team.

Hawks are basically right where they really should be right now in all realistic scenarios. 50 games in, they are pacing for about +47 better in goal differential and about 8 points better in standings, each compared to last year just by replacing a lot of "non-NHL" talent (players not currently on active NHL rosters) with players that are at least NHL level in what was ultimately a pretty conservative low-event off-season (two middle of the road free agent signings, a couple more vets on short cheap deals, and then just seeing what happens internally with young players).

They had lots of room to improve and still walk away from this year with a very high draft pick, because none of the teams above them really decided to blow it up and tank their rosters. And that's probably exactly what they need.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Maybe but Hawks are not a "Bedard on Wing" away from being a competitive team right now.

No kidding, like I said they're a bad team. But I think they're still underperforming a bit vs expectations.