OT: Connor Bedard, Anyone?

bledredwine · Post #1 » by **bledredwine** » Wed Dec 13, 2023 11:26 am

I must admit that though Chicago sports are currently in an ugly place, this young boy has been a ray of sunshine for the Hawks.

I’ve been following all of his highlights and am blown away by his skills. He deserves a thread on our board.

Are there any thoughts from those of you who understand hockey? He’s breaking or coming close to breaking youngest player records as far as points (and I believe goals).

Gretzky said that he may be even better than we anticipated. I must admit that I just don’t enjoy modern basketball with the exception of defensive playoff games. It has been nice to get back into Chicago sports, even if it’s merely a toe in the water.

Post #2 » by **fleet** » Wed Dec 13, 2023 12:57 pm

Still hockey. Personally, I just, can’t. Mostly what it means is that the Blackhawks will again take away local coverage time from the major sports, which I find annoying. He may become interesting as a Chicago celebrity if he becomes Hockey Tiger.

ChiTownHero1992 · Post #3 » by **ChiTownHero1992** » Wed Dec 13, 2023 1:01 pm

Love Bedard and Hockey...second most exciting sport to me and easily the only hopeful team in Chicago right now! So many young players with big potential on that roster.

Bears are going nowhere and i'm not hopeful for their picks yet because FO hasn't been great.
Bulls are going nowhere and i have 0 faith in the FO with or without picks
Cubs are going to do what they always do and shoot for a mediocre team full of hope for a sneaky wildcard playoff spot and then lose early in the playoffs (if they make it)
Sox....are the Sox

SalmonsSuperfan · Post #4 » by **SalmonsSuperfan** » Wed Dec 13, 2023 2:26 pm

He looks incredible. Leads all rookies in points by a huge margin, he has 24 while the next closest guys are clustered around 11-16 points; first in both goals and assists. He's also only 18 and most of those guys are in their early 20s. he started off slow but since his 4 point game, he's averaging 1 point a game and also leading the team in both goals and assists. Didn't take long to adjust at all. The Hawks are still a god awful team, last in the league, but he's a definite bright spot.

this is his goal from last night. his vision, stickhandling and wrist shot are elite, he reminds me of Kyrie on ice but projects to have more of a LeBron type impact.

Watch on YouTube

panthermark · Post #5 » by **panthermark** » Wed Dec 13, 2023 2:43 pm

We went to the UC and watched him play on opening night of pre-season. Very talented. Hockey isn't my sport, but if he (eventually) bring Chicago another title, fine by me.

BullChit · Post #6 » by **BullChit** » Wed Dec 13, 2023 2:43 pm

I am not a big hockey fan but I love sports and I love watching young prospects show out, so I have found myself watching a looooot of his highlights and videos about him.

CjayC · Post #7 » by **CjayC** » Wed Dec 13, 2023 4:24 pm

They need to get this dude some help. It's crazy how bad his teammates are.

molepharmer · Post #8 » by **molepharmer** » Wed Dec 13, 2023 5:09 pm

SalmonsSuperfan wrote:He looks incredible. Leads all rookies in points by a huge margin, he has 24 while the next closest guys are clustered around 11-16 points; first in both goals and assists. He's also only 18 and most of those guys are in their early 20s. he started off slow but since his 4 point game, he's averaging 1 point a game and also leading the team in both goals and assists. Didn't take long to adjust at all. The Hawks are still a god awful team, last in the league, but he's a definite bright spot.

this is his goal from last night. his vision, stickhandling and wrist shot are elite, he reminds me of Kyrie on ice but projects to have more of a LeBron type impact.

Watch on YouTube

Descriptions such as greatness and elite are thrown around a bit too lightly, but in Bedard's case they're justified. Those types of shots just aren't done very often and he's made several eye popping highlight goals this year. Since his linemates are pretty much pedestrian, defenses focus on Bedard as soon as he enters the o-zone and often send two defenders to contain him; making his scoring all the more impressive.

Dominator83 · Post #9 » by **Dominator83** » Thu Dec 14, 2023 12:07 am

fleet wrote:Still hockey. Personally, I just, can’t. Mostly what it means is that the Blackhawks will again take away local coverage time from the major sports, which I find annoying. He may become interesting as a Chicago celebrity if he becomes Hockey Tiger.

Jeez if your that negative why even bother replying?
I'm not much of a hockey guy either but still nice to have a potential GOAT in town regardless.

And what's annoying about slightly less chatter about all the other junk teams in town with no future in sight ? The Sox suck and always will. The Cubs possibly mediocre. No surprise they're striking out in free agency. The Bulls suck and have no future in sight. The Bears are getting interesting but means nothing until the QB position is solved. We've been there done that with good Bears defenses that get wasted by garbage offenses. Yawn. So yea, how annoying can less talk about these teams really be?

SalmonsSuperfan · Post #10 » by **SalmonsSuperfan** » Thu Dec 14, 2023 4:57 am

molepharmer wrote:
SalmonsSuperfan wrote:He looks incredible. Leads all rookies in points by a huge margin, he has 24 while the next closest guys are clustered around 11-16 points; first in both goals and assists. He's also only 18 and most of those guys are in their early 20s. he started off slow but since his 4 point game, he's averaging 1 point a game and also leading the team in both goals and assists. Didn't take long to adjust at all. The Hawks are still a god awful team, last in the league, but he's a definite bright spot.

this is his goal from last night. his vision, stickhandling and wrist shot are elite, he reminds me of Kyrie on ice but projects to have more of a LeBron type impact.

Watch on YouTube

Descriptions such as greatness and elite are thrown around a bit too lightly, but in Bedard's case they're justified. Those types of shots just aren't done very often and he's made several eye popping highlight goals this year. Since his linemates are pretty much pedestrian, defenses focus on Bedard as soon as he enters the o-zone and often send two defenders to contain him; making his scoring all the more impressive.

I thought this goal was impressive (just one of many) because it seems like an impossible shot to get off. It looks pedestrian at first look, then you consider he's exactly in position to take advantage of the line change, his speed to blow by the initial defender, his stick handling to get it past the secondary defender's stick and finally to put it in the goal at a seemingly impossible angle. This is not even considering his ability to set up his teammates to score. Like you say, middling linemen, but still top in NHL rookies for assists despite the Hawks being the second lowest goal scoring team in the league. He was just passed by Pavel Mintyukov of the Ducks in assists, another great young talent, but Mintyukov has only scored one goal all season and plays for a team that has scored 8 more goals in the same timeframe (66 vs 74) while being two years older and drafted a year earlier (still a rookie). Neither team is scoring well and both guys should be excellent NHL players. Mintyukov and Bedard went head to head recently, Bedard has an assist and Mintyukov had 0 points in a 1-0 Hawks win.

I also appreciate his humility, it's like he's been doing post game interviews for a decade and doesn't care that he's the best prospect the sport has been there a long time, doesn't just give the "both teams played hard" politically correct answer, or hypes up his individual talent, but puts the team above himself and answers reporters' questions in detail, in an actually insightful and charming way that a fan has to appreciate. Very ahead of his time for an 18-year-old, the Hawks should have a very good player for a long time.

This is the Chicago team to watch in my opinion. The Hawks have other young talent too. Hockey is a much more interesting sport than people will give it credit for. it provides the 5 on 5 fast pace that basketball offers, the physicality of football, places extra importance on each point like soccer does and offers an interesting minor league/organizational structure like baseball does. There's a lot to love and discuss about the sport and this young man looks like the LeBron/Erling Haaland/Shohei Ohtani of hockey. He's about the only exciting prospect to look forward to unless you really love Pete Crow-Armstrong's (Cubs) defensive prowess or Colson Montgomery's (Sox) batting potential or expect Justin Fields to really turn things around...and Badard is a far better player than those guys in their individual sports.

Here are highlights of his 4 point game. Especially love the assist right through the defender's legs.

Watch on YouTube

bledredwine · Post #11 » by **bledredwine** » Thu Dec 14, 2023 6:43 pm

BullChit wrote:I am not a big hockey fan but I love sports and I love watching young prospects show out, so I have found myself watching a looooot of his highlights and videos about him.

I’m in the same boat! I can’t stop watching videos of and about him. He’s so talented, truly something that we’ve never seen before. And he’s so young.

Sinistar6 · Post #12 » by **Sinistar6** » Fri Dec 15, 2023 3:28 am

Best GM in Chicago and the rebuild is ahead of schedule with the Hawks getting the best prospect since McDavid. Young skill and speed filling the system and another top pick incoming! In 2-3 years look out, I don’t want to be to much of a homer but dynasty could be incoming.

CB may have the best shot since Bobby Hull. His wrister is that good and unique. Hall of fame shot and he is 18…

Things to look for is how his total points round out at the end of the year. Patrick Kane has 72 his rookie year but he was on a better team. I would put CB’s over under at 63.5, not sure what Vegas says.

Since this is a basketball forum I have to talk about Seth Jones. Not sure how he will work into the rebuild.

SalmonsSuperfan · Post #13 » by **SalmonsSuperfan** » Tue Dec 26, 2023 3:13 am

Watch on YouTube

don't think I've ever seen a goal scored this way.

Chicago-Bull-E · Post #14 » by **Chicago-Bull-E** » Tue Dec 26, 2023 3:28 am

He’s been very good so far.

Hopefully they can build around him quickly. The team sucks as a whole.

CROBulls · Post #15 » by **CROBulls** » Tue Dec 26, 2023 1:23 pm

He is gonna be amazing player in league. I am not big hockey fan, dont know much about it. Used somewhat follow hockey 15 years ago, but now because of him I at least check highlights of Blackhawks games. And given how much Blackhawks suck, even with Bedard they gonna pick up another amazing player to be his Robin.

molepharmer · Post #16 » by **molepharmer** » Tue Dec 26, 2023 2:02 pm

SalmonsSuperfan wrote:

Watch on YouTube

don't think I've ever seen a goal scored this way.

I'd seen only a couple of those before; may have started with a couple of college players at Michigan (Kent Johnson????) only a few years ago. The speed and ease with which Bedard does that is crazy stuff. It's was about the only good thing to come out of that fiasco against St.Louis the other night.

Post #17 » by **Michael Jackson** » Wed Dec 27, 2023 4:43 am

CROBulls wrote:He is gonna be amazing player in league. I am not big hockey fan, dont know much about it. Used somewhat follow hockey 15 years ago, but now because of him I at least check highlights of Blackhawks games. And given how much Blackhawks suck, even with Bedard they gonna pick up another amazing player to be his Robin.

Connor is absolutely something. But did you not watch Toews and Kane? I’m not saying hockey is my number one sport. Toews and Kane era was insane and I got Savard fired as the coach coming into that. Savard is also my favorite player ever.

Post #18 » by **Michael Jackson** » Wed Dec 27, 2023 4:47 am

The Bulls could still use Popeye Jones

CROBulls · Post #19 » by **CROBulls** » Wed Dec 27, 2023 11:46 am

Michael Jackson wrote:
CROBulls wrote:He is gonna be amazing player in league. I am not big hockey fan, dont know much about it. Used somewhat follow hockey 15 years ago, but now because of him I at least check highlights of Blackhawks games. And given how much Blackhawks suck, even with Bedard they gonna pick up another amazing player to be his Robin.

Connor is absolutely something. But did you not watch Toews and Kane? I’m not saying hockey is my number one sport. Toews and Kane era was insane and I got Savard fired as the coach coming into that. Savard is also my favorite player ever.

Like I said I was not big hockey fan. Watched more european hockey at the time. Even went to some games. But that's it.

Dominator83 · Post #20 » by **Dominator83** » Thu Dec 28, 2023 12:07 pm

Sinistar6 wrote:Best GM in Chicago and the rebuild is ahead of schedule with the Hawks getting the best prospect since McDavid. Young skill and speed filling the system and another top pick incoming! In 2-3 years look out, I don’t want to be to much of a homer but dynasty could be incoming.

CB may have the best shot since Bobby Hull. His wrister is that good and unique. Hall of fame shot and he is 18…

Things to look for is how his total points round out at the end of the year. Patrick Kane has 72 his rookie year but he was on a better team. I would put CB’s over under at 63.5, not sure what Vegas says.

Since this is a basketball forum I have to talk about Seth Jones. Not sure how he will work into the rebuild.

Is it ahead of schedule?or did he just get super lucky ? Because doesn't appear to be much around him. I know they'll probably have another high pick this year but gotta nail that one too.