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Former scout makes a SHOCKING prediction about Connor Bedard and his draft ranking

Published August 8, 2022 at 6:32 PM
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Ever since Bedard played his first season in the WHL which was shortened due to COVID, he has been the unanimous first overall pick for the 2023 draft.

As a 16 year old, Bedard played in 15 games in the WHL, where he scored 12 goals and 28 points. He followed that up with a 51 goal 100 point season last year, where he also had 4 goals and 5 points in 2 games at the World Juniors for Canada before it was cancelled.


This kid is supposed to be a generational talent and it will be insane to see the numbers he puts up this season for the Regina Pats.


But here is the scary thing, we heard a lot of the same comments about Shane Wright when he was granted exceptional player status to join the Kingston Frontenacs as an underaged player. He was an insanely talented kid who was projected to be the next NHL superstar and we just watched him fall to the 4th overall pick where Seattle was very happy to take him. While Bedard looks to possess a much more offensive gift, Wright is said to have the complete two-way package.

It has been a few years since we've seen a prospect as highly touted as Bedard. The last player who was talked about in such a manner was Auston Matthews. Everyone around the league considers Bedard to be the next generational talent, except it seems for one former Montreal Canadiens scout.

Grant McCagg joined Tony Marinaro on his ''The Sick Podcast'' and shared his thoughts on Bedard:

This is August. There were several guys, like Nolan Patrick, Angelo Esposito or Shane Wright, who were described as consensus picks in August, but didn't get selected first. No recruiter has already made their decision this early in the year. It's mostly something you see on social media.

There has never been a winger measuring 5'9 who was chosen first overall. As talented as he is, Bedard is still very small. With Canada, he always plays on the wing. If he's such a good center, why doesn't he play that position with the national team like Sidney Crosby did? Probably because that's where he's going to play in the NHL!



We saw this season that until a month before the draft Shane Wright was the the obvious pick for the Montreal Canadiens, then out of nowhere came Juraj Slafkovský who blew up the headlines and stole the first overall selection. Could we see something similar with Bedard? There is a guy playing over in Russia who is also projected to be the next Ovechkin in Matvei Michkov.

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August 8   |   274 answers
Former scout makes a SHOCKING prediction about Connor Bedard and his draft ranking

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