Connor Bedard: The Next Connor McDavid?

Most of you have probably heard of Connor Bedard by now. If not, Connor Bedard is a player in the WHL for the Regina Pats who is destroying the entire league. He is only 17 years old and is eligible for this upcoming NHL draft. Bedard is ranked by everyone to be the 1st overall pick in this year’s draft.

(Jason Franson/The Canadian Press, via Associated Press) From: nytimes.com

Bedard entered the WHL at 15 years old after playing in the Junior 18 and Junior 20 leagues over in Sweden for a couple of games. He also entered the WJC 18 and Under tournament that year with team Canada. At 15 years old, Bedard got 7 goals and 7 assists to get 14 points in only 7 games. He also got a hat trick in a 8-1 win against Sweden. He’s not close to the record that is held by Nikita Kucherov who got 21 points in 7 games, but he was 17. Bedard is tied with McDavid, Shane Wright, Clayton Keller, and a couple other players for 20th overall. But, he is tied with McDavid for the most points at a younger age as McDavid also hit 14 points at 15 years of age. Him and McDavid are the only 15 year olds in the top 50 most points in a single tournament.

Once Bedard started playing with Regina in the WHL after the World Juniors, he immediately started to gain notice. At the youngest age that someone could play in the WHL, Bedard got 28 (12 goals, 16 assists) points in 15 games in his first season in the WHL. Even though he only played 15 games, he is 5th overall for the most points as a 15 year old, and anyone else that played less than 20 games got no more than 10 points with the only person to hit 10 points was Kirby Dach.

In 2021-22, Bedard came back to the WHL even stronger. At 16 years old, Bedard was 2nd for the highest Points Per Game at 16 years old in a season (minimum 20 games). Bedard has 100 points (51 goals, 49 assists) in 62 games, good for a 1.61 PPG. Bedard was 4th in the WHL in points that season, above him every player was 18 years or older.

Bedard played in 2 WJC’s that season. He played in the WJC-18 and the WJC-20, twice. His first tournament he played with Canada was the WJC-20 that was canceled due to COVID. However, in the 6-3 win against Czechia, Bedard would get an assist, and in the 11-2 win against Austria, Bedard would have 4 goals to total with 5 points in 2 games. Bedard was the second 16 year old Canadian ever to get a hat trick in a World Junior game, the last one to do that was Wayne Gretzky in 1977.

In the WJC-18, Canada would unfortunately get stunned and lose to Finland in OT in the first round of the Knockout Stage. Bedard still showed up and got 7 points (6 goals, 1 assist) in 4 games, including a hat trick against Germany. The second WJC-20 came in August of this season (2022). This was a do-over of the one that had to be canceled the previous December. Bedard would get 8 points (4 goals, 4 assists) in 7 games with Canada to help them win the gold. Bedard tied for 9th in the points, but everyone above him was between the ages of 17-19.

Now we are in the 2022-23 WHL season, and he is already on pace for 124 points.

But the real question is how does he compare to Connor McDavid?

At 15, McDavid played 63 games and got 66 points in the OHL, a PPG of 1.05, whereas Bedard played 15 games and got 28 points, a PPG of 1.87 in the WHL, both similar leagues. They also both won Rookie of the Year. McDavid and Bedard both got 14 points in 7 games in the WJC-18 at 15. McDavid scored 1 more goal than Bedard and got 1 less assist.

At 16, McDavid got 99 points in 56 games with a 1.77 PPG, whereas Bedard got 100 points in 62 games with a 1.61 PPG. At 16, McDavid did not play in the WJC-18, he just skipped to the WJC-20 where he got 4 points in 7 games. But, Bedard got 8 points in 7 games (5 points in 2 games for the WJC-20 that was canceled).

And at 17 years old, in McDavid’s final OHL season, he got 120 points in 47 games, a PPG of 2.55. So far Bedard has 20 points in 11 games and is projected to get 124 points in 68 games, a PPG of 1.82.

Both Connor Bedard and Connor McDavid are great players, they are very similar in many ways. I can see Bedard do great in the NHL just like McDavid and it will be very fun to watch them play against each other once Bedard gets into the NHL.

Stats from: quanthockey.com, eliteprospects.com