Homeboy smoked KHL U20 records in consecutive seasons and he’s already improved the Flyer PP exponentially while generational Bedard had the NHL’s 112th-most productive rookie season and on a 23-win team no less.
There is no gap until we actually see one.
Quite sad that people feel the need to keep trying to drag Bedard down in this thread to boost Michkov, who is doing just fine without the shade
Put another way, last season Bedard was more productive (both raw totals and per game) than Michkov while playing in a better league at a younger age on a team that scored less often and was worse relative to the competition
When Bedard didn't register a point, including during his injury, the team was literally shut out twice as often as they won. He was the sole focal point of the best defenders in the world night in and night out- Michkov, wonderful as he is, can't claim to have faced that level of competition- and put up the 3rd best points per game rate for his age since the 80s behind only McDavid and Crosby. It's fair to perceive a gap between Michkov and Bedard for now while keeping the possibility open that the gap will close
He did stink defensively as an 18 year old with ridiculous matchups every night but he developed a high end summer training plan with Kyle Davidson (aka shipping out more than a half dozen AHL caliber players and replacing them with actual NHLers so the team isn't constantly chasing the puck) and now he's a net positive defender through five games. Magic
