Is Connor Bedard already a top-50 player?

The 2023 first-overall pick hasn't played a minute of meaningful NHL hockey but Connor Bedard's performances for the Chicago Blackhawks in preseason have been very impressive.

Video Transcript

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Let's move on from the Pittsburgh Penguins to a team that we love to talk about on this show, Chicago, and the fact that they have a Connor Bedard. Yay. In all seriousness, though, Connor Bedard has looked really good in rookie camp. He's looked really good in pre-season. He is looking incredible. Omar, were you going to say something?

OMAR: Listen to me. The agent of the goalie who was in that rookie tournament, that prospect tournament, should sue. That goal is not fair. He should not have been in that position to try to stop that. Like, it's just not fair. It's like, you're watching him play pre-season, whatever. And a lot of people are getting mad that the NHL accounts are showing off young talent for the future. But like--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: People are getting mad about that?

OMAR: Yeah, I don't get it.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: What? I've never seen that. What are you talking about?

OMAR: It's like, haha McDavid-- McDavid does this all the time. But he scores. I'm like, OK, cool. It's still a cool move.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Are they calling it glazing? Have you guys heard of that term, glazing?

OMAR: No. People do that now, where if a team account or like a league account talks a lot about an athlete or a player, and they overdo it, that they say, oh, you're glazing. Like you're just talking a lot about this person. I don't know why they call it glazing.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: OK, that's new.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: It is what it is.

OMAR: That's new.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: Weird.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I've never-- I've seen it in baseball a lot. But I don't know why it's a thing for sports. I don't know.

OMAR: Huh, so the first overall pick last year is doing cool things. Wow.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah, oh no, why should we talk about him? Why should we over obsess over Connor Bedard?

OMAR: So backwards.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Anyway, what are reasonable expectations for this guy? Is it too soon to already consider him a top 50 player in this league?

OMAR: Kind of? I mean, I don't know. Avry, go.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: He hasn't played a game yet. He hasn't played a game that matters yet. How can you put him in the top 50 against guys who played in the NHL? Wait a bit before you put in the top 50. There are guys who are worthy of being in that list. Connor Bedard is not there yet. It's absurd to put him in that list yet when he's played zero NHL games for points.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: What about the tantalizing ability? What about the fact that he's shown that if you put him in an NHL lineup, there could be something. What about the hypothetical world? Is that not enough to put him or consider him a top 50 player?

OMAR: OK, I don't know.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: What if you're just getting ahead of things? You could be just getting ahead of things.

OMAR: Yeah, sure, then you can make me coach Team Canada and put me in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: If you guys have done fantasy hockey drafts, are you guys going to pass on Connor Bedard because he didn't play an NHL game?

OMAR: No, but that's a different conversation.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: No, no. Then why is it ridiculous Bedard isn't that popular already?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: It is a different conversation. Yes, it is.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Why is it ridiculoius then?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: I don't know.

SAMANTHA CHANG: Well, because when you're building a fantasy hockey team, especially if you're in a keeper league, your considerations are not, like, who are the best 50 players in the league? Like, you're hopefully, hopefully putting some more thought into planning your team than that.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: That's true.

OMAR: Yeah.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I probably should have done that with my fantasy team. But I don't know. I think Carter has shown enough talent. And look, anything can happen. I don't know if he's-- in all seriousness, I don't know if he's going to be a 50-goal scorer off the hop. But like, it would be really cool if he was. It would be really cool if he was.

SAMANTHA CHANG: I refuse to say anything positive about the Chicago Blackhawks. So--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah.

SAMANTHA CHANG: --I have no comment.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Well, that's absolutely fair. That's absolutely fair for so many--

SAMANTHA CHANG: I hope he's a bust.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah, jeez, I wasn't going to go that far. Geez, good Lord.

OMAR: I don't know, I feel like-- I think, like--

SAMANTHA CHANG: Until they trade him. And then he can, like,

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah, yeah, he can-- yeah, then he can thrive in, like, Pittsburgh or something.

OMAR: That would-- man, man, it's--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I just mentioned a random city. I just mentioned a random city.

OMAR: Watch. Crosby's going to retire. And then Pittsburgh's going to win the draft lottery. It's going to be like-- like Connor McDavid and Matthews like did the fusion dance. Like Connor Matthews, from, like, I don't know, Florida, somewhere in Florida. And it's just like the perfect combination of speed and goal-scoring. And then he's going to go right to Pittsburgh. And we're just going to watch. And it's like oh, awesome, how convenient that their generational player retired and now they have another one. Awesome. That's great. That's so sick.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah, it's not like it's never happened before, where they had a generational player retire and then they almost immediately got a generational player. Yeah, Pittsburgh, they probably do.

OMAR: The Ducks, man, the Ducks got screwed. I'm sorry. The hockey they played-- the hockey they played last year was abysmal.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yes.

OMAR: They deserved him. They deserved it.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Deserve got5 nothing to do with it, man.

OMAR: Please.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: The ping pong balls bounce wherever they bounce, man. What do you-- what else are you supposed to do? We don't live in a world where if you have the worst record, you are guaranteed the player. Like, it is what it is. And it's not as if Anaheim-- I mean, look, they got Bobby Ryan in the Crosby draft. They took Leo Carlson when maybe they should have taken Adam Fantilli. But that's none of my business.

I'm not about to cry poor on the Anaheim Ducks. They have a promising young core with young players, especially right now. The good thing, they signed Trevor Zegras. They'll figure it out.