North Vancouver phenom turns heads in first weeks as a 15-year-old in WHL
North Vancouver's Connor Bedard is weeks into a WHL career that started ahead of the usual schedules, and folks are already suggesting what his long-term future in hockey could look like.
“I think he's going to be a heck of a player in the NHL,” Moose Jaw Warriors assistant general manager Jason Ripplinger said of Bedard, the Regina Pats centre who's all of 15 years old.
The Bedard hype train started to gain speed last March, when Hockey Canada made the North Shore Winter Club minor hockey alum and West Vancouver Hockey Academy product the seventh player ever, and the first from the WHL, to receive exceptional player status, meaning that he could be a regular in major junior hockey ahead of his 16-year-old season.
The previous six to be fasttracked were: John Tavares (2005), Aaron Ekblad (2011), Connor McDavid (2012), Sean Day (2013), Joe Veleno (2015) and Shane Wright (2019).
And, with all that, Bedard has somehow been as good as the considerable advertising so far in this abbreviated, COVID -19-hampered campaign. Going into Tuesday, he was third in WHL scoring, with 17 points, including seven goals, in nine games.
He isn't eligible for the NHL draft until 2023.
“He's very smart. You're not sure what he's going to do when he has the puck. A lot of guys telegraph what they're going to do,” said Ripplinger, who's a former Vancouver Giants director of player personnel. “He's able to slow the game down, bring all the defenders to him and then make the right play. “His hockey sense is very good.” The Pats were slated to play the Warriors on Tuesday night, marking the teams' second meeting as members of the Regina hub. Seven WHL teams from Saskatchewan and Manitoba are a part of that setup.
The WHL's B.C. Division has its five teams — the Giants, Prince George Cougars, Kamloops Blazers, Victoria Royals and Kelowna Rockets — based in hubs in Kamloops and Kelowna.
Prince Albert Raiders coach Marc Habscheid, whose team has faced the Pats twice so far this season, believes that Bedard “thinks the game and has composure at an elite level.”
He did tag the 5-9, 165-pound Bedard as being “very strong ” as well.
Saskatoon Blades coach Mitch Love, whose squad also has played the Pats twice to date, had a similar scouting report on Bedard.
“He's obviously a special talent, but to watch the maturity of his game at 15 in terms of making plays under pressure against older players is very impressive. You can see confidence in just his body language on the ice each game,” Love reported. “The deception to his shot and release along with his vision to make players around him better at that age is extraordinary.”
The Pats used the first overall pick in the 2020 WHL bantam draft last April to nab Bedard's rights. Bedard's 84 points, including 43 goals, in 36 games for West Vancouver, paced the Canadian Sport School under-18 league in scoring despite him being three years younger than some of the players in the circuit.
Steve Marr was Bedard's coach at West Van and the former Medicine Hat Tigers defenceman insisted last spring that Bedard was already ready for regular duty in the WHL.
“His talent and his ability to do things on the ice is undeniable, but having a first-hand understanding and experience of Connor's drive, his character, his mental toughness and his desire to be the best version of himself every single day … he is special for a reason,” Marr said.