Connor Bedard of North Vancouver, British Columbia has only played two National Hockey League seasons, but the general feeling so far is he has not met expectations. When Bedard was selected first overall by the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2023 National Hockey League Entry Draft, he was touted as “the next one,” and the next possible Connor McDavid. It has only been 150 games into Bedard’s NHL career, but McDavid’s first two NHL seasons trumped Bedard’s first two NHL seasons by a dozen galaxies.
Why is there criticism of Bedard’s play?
This answer is easy. He is simply too one-dimensional and is weak when it comes to his defensive side of the game. After two seasons, Bedard is -80. At -44, he had the second worst plus/minus in the NHL in 2023-24. The only player with a worse plus/minus in Bedard’s rookie season was William Eklund of the San Jose Sharks. The native of Stockholm, Sweden was a -45. In 2024-25, Eklund skyrocketed to a -7, showing significant improvement. Meanwhile, Bedard only improved to -36.
Fifth worst plus/minus last season
The only four players with a worse plus/minus in 2024-25 were Boston Bruins second year defenseman Mason Lohrei of Baton Rouge, Louisiana (-43), Detroit Red Wings left winger Tyler Bertuzzi of Sudbury, Ontario (-39), Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson of Malmo, Sweden (-38), and San Jose Sharks right winger Barclay Woodrow of Toronto (-37).
Takeaway/Giveaway regression
In 2023-24 Bedard had a takeaway/giveaway ratio of -10. He had 47 takeaways and 57 giveaways. However, in 2024-25, Bedard had a takeaway/giveaway ratio of -64. He only had 26 takeaways and 90 giveaways.
Criticism from Hockey Psychology
Bedard’s plus/minus was not the only poor statistic in his game last year. As Hockey Psychology pointed out in their YouTube video, Bedard only won 38.3% of his faceoffs last season, which means he lost 61.7%. Bedard has only won 38.6% of the faceoffs in his career.
Passed by Macklin Celebrini?
Bedard will forever be compared to Sharks forward Macklin Celebrini, the number one pick in the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. Like Bedard, Celebrini is from Vancouver. Even though Bedard had four more points than Celebrini in 2024-25, there is one statistic that stands out in the argument that Celebrini had the better year. That is shots on goal. Celebrini had 236 shots on goal last season, while Bedard had 195 shots.
Olympic spot doubtful
Bedard has been selected to the Canadian Olympic Orientation Camp in Calgary next week. Let’s face it. Until he can be sound offensively and defensively, Bedard will not be considered for the Olympic team in Italy come February.
