NHL Scout Claims Bedard Is Overrated

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James Connelly
June 13, 2023 (1:48 PM)

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Connor Bedard will go first overall in the 2023 draft but NHL scouts are saying the hype train needs to slow down a bit.

Scout Says Bedard Is Overrated

It is widely considered that Connor Bedard is a franchise-altering player. Chicago was lucky to win the draft lottery and get the opportunity to select him. Bedard scored 71 goals and 143 points in 57 games this past season, he is considered the consensus number-one pick. It was the best junior draft eligible season since Connor McDavid scored 44 goals and 120 points in 47 games.

He is the number one prospect and nobody is saying he will go any lower than one but some are saying his immediate NHL impact will be a let down.

Athletic writer and scout Corey Pronman interviewed NHL scouts and executives to get an idea of what they think about top prospects and an NHL scout had some choice thoughts on Connor Bedard.

«I worry the hype on him is getting a little out of control. He's No. 1, he's the guy, amazing player, but I'm not sure I'm projecting him to be like an immediate top 5-10 player in the league or something. He's not McDavid. I still think you're getting someone who could have a Patrick Kane-type of career though if he hits.» - NHL scout

Kane VS McDavid

Patrick Kane won the Calder as a rookie and would go onto win more hardware throughout his decorated NHL career. However, he only scored 72 points as a rookie and to expect Bedard to score only 72 points is disrespectful to the player.

McDavid scored 48 points in 45 games as a rookie, in a dead puck era where Patrick Kane lead league scoring with 106 points. For comparison, 7 players this past season had over 106 points. The second place scorer in McDavid's rookie year was Jamie Benn with 87 points. Last year, 20 players had 87 or more points.

While it is different eras, we could reasonably see Bedard match the production of McDavid's rookie year scoring at an 87 point pace but that is assuming his projected linemates upgrade. Bedard will likely be handicapped by whoever is on his line because his best teammate would be Seth Jones and Jones, while a good player, should not be the 2nd best player on a team.

It will be Bedard's Blackhawks from day one and whoever will join him on his line will have an elevated season considering how Bedard has the rare ability to make the players around him better, a skill exclusive to maybe 3-5 NHLers at the moment.

Bedard Rookie Year Prediction

Assuming his linemates are Lukas Reichel (top Hawks prospect) and Tyler Johnson, we could watch Bedard put up a statline like 42-38-80.

He is more of a goal scorer and has one of the best releases in the world so he will likely have more goals than assists especially considering his linemates but he will likely have 100+ points as a sophomore.

As seen on The Athletic - NHL Draft confidential: What scouts and executives think of Bedard, Michkov and more