Connor Bedard (born July 17, 2005) is a Canadian junior ice hockey centre who plays in the Western Hockey League (WHL) for the Regina Pats. Bedard was selected by the Regina Pats first overall in the 2020 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft as the first ever WHL player of exceptional status. Bedard will be eligible for the National Hockey League Entry Draft in 2023. Today we will discuss about Connor Bedard: Elite prospects| Grandfather| Draft year.
Connor Bedard: Elite prospects| Grandfather| Draft year…
In 2018, Bedard emerged as a young hockey prospect, being named “the future of hockey” in an article by The Hockey News. Bedard played minor hockey with West Vancouver Academy Prep of the Canadian Sport School Hockey League. While playing with this school’s U15 and U18 teams, Bedard led the league in goals and points and was named Most Valuable Player both years.
| Connor Bedard | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Born | July 17, 2005 North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
||
| Height | 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) | ||
| Weight | 179 lb (81 kg; 12 st 11 lb) | ||
| Position | Centre | ||
| Shoots | Right | ||
| WHL team | Regina Pats | ||
| NHL Draft | Eligible, 2023 | ||
| Playing career | TBD–present | ||
Elite prospects
Move over Connor McDavid, there’s another star hockey player named Connor on the way. At just 15 years old, Connor Bedard is considered one of the top prospects eligible for the 2023 NHL Draft after a head-turning 2020-21 season in the Western Hockey League. The North Vancouver native averaged 1.87 points per game in his rookie season, a scoring rate higher than McDavid and John Tavares had during their first seasons at the same age.
Bedard became the first WHL player ever to be granted exceptional status to play major-junior hockey at 15. He joined the likes of McDavid, Tavares and Aaron Ekblad as just the seventh player in Canadian Hockey League history to receive the distinction.
In a pandemic-shortened season with the Regina Pats, a team Islanders head coach Barry Trotz used to play for, Bedard recorded 28 points (12 goals, 16 assists) in a mere 15 games. Bedard recorded at least one point in all but one game, including two four-point efforts.
Grandfather
Connor Bedard played one of the best games of his WHL career before learning that his grandfather had been killed in a traffic accident.
Shortly after their 6-1 win over the Swift Current Broncos on Tuesday night , the Pats learned that the grandfather of 15-year-old rookie Connor Bedard had been killed in a traffic accident. It was an extremely delicate situation for the WHL club and an experience that head coach Dave Struch doesn’t care to repeat.
Draft year
In March 2020, Bedard was granted exceptional status by Hockey Canada, and in the 2020 Western Hockey League Bantam Draft, Bedard was selected first overall by the Regina Pats as the first ever WHL player of exceptional status. In September 2020, Bedard was loaned to the HV71 junior hockey system, where he played until the Western Hockey League returned to play for its 2020–21 season beginning in March 2021.
As a rookie in the WHL, Bedard scored 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points in just 15 games before leaving for the 2021 IIHF World U18 Championships.
