Connor Bedard or Jack Hughes?

[wetcoast]

bedard is not for sale. chicago will not trade him whatever you offer them. discussing bedard as e.g. the avs 2c the nexr three years doesn't make sense as well. obviously a player like bedard on an elc contract would be a gift from heaven. but it won't happen.
same for hughes. he plays for the forseeable future for the devils and nothing will change that. there is no scenario where those players could be moved to any team in the league.
the question is do you prefer hughes' contribution for the devils or bedard's for the hawks. me as a devils fan i wouldn't risk the change.

Funny that the actual question is different though eh?
From the OP,

Who are you taking to build your team around today? Factoring in all current circumstances.

Connor Bedard
Age: 18
Contract Status: (3) year ELC
What we know: A potential superstar.

Jack Hughes
Age: 22
Contract Status: Team friendly contract at $8 mill per, w/ 7 years left.
What we know: Already a star. Put up 43 goals & 99pts last season.

 

[TBF1972]

and i have answered the question from a devils fans perspective

 

[KirkAlbuquerque]

How can you bet against Bedard

 

[authentic]

Can’t believe this is even a question .

Bedard has potential to be even better than McDavid . Yes I just said it . Bedard has the potential to be better than McDavid .

I remember when the Great 99 played for the Soo Greyhounds people said he was too small , would never make it etc but he is the best player of all time .

I stand by this statement and think Bedard is really that good and has that potential to be better than McDavid .

I would be stoked if this was the case. Bedard strikes me as that Gretzky type of player who will have a lot of points without visually dominating as much as someone like McDavid. i actually think he’ll be the best player in the world by his 2nd or 3rd season but I just don’t know if he’ll ever score 150 points or average over two point a game in a playoff run.

 

[centipede2233]

I would be stoked if this was the case. Bedard strikes me as that Gretzky type of player who will have a lot of points without visually dominating as much as someone like McDavid. i actually think he’ll be the best player in the world by his 2nd or 3rd season but I just don’t know if he’ll ever score 150 points or average over two point a game in a playoff run.

Kinda like Lemieux. Lemieux scored some nice goals no doubt, but some nights youd barely notice him and he had a 5 point night!

a little off topic on a Gretzky vs lemieux and what differentiate them, bourque was asked and he said Lemieux had an off switch and on switch. gretzky had an on switch at all times.

 

[DevilsHughes86]

Keeping Jack!

 

[njdevils1982]

After watching one preseason game I’m convinced Bedard is already the 2nd best player in the league quite easily.

username checks out

 

[authentic]

Kinda like Lemieux. Lemieux scored some nice goals no doubt, but some nights youd barely notice him and he had a 5 point night!

a little off topic on a Gretzky vs lemieux and what differentiate them, bourque was asked and he said Lemieux had an off switch and on switch. gretzky had an on switch at all times.

Very true. Goes to show how much hockey sense is the key differentiator there between them and other elite players. Sometimes other players stood out much more from game to game, like Jagr for instance in 1995-96 but Lemieux would outscore him easily while missing a dozen games.

Also the off on thing may be because Lemieux dealt with a lot of pain from his back and cancer and other injuries so he couldn’t give it his all every night. Gretzky wasn’t the same after his back injury but I still think Lemieux was better at his best regardless, or at least more fit to dominate better goalies at his best, but obviously many disagree with that.

 

[Kennedys]

I'm really surprised it's not 100% Bedard. Like WTF. I know Hughes had 43 goals and 99 pts last season but Bedard will do this in his rookie season

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I'm really surprised it's not 100% Bedard. Like WTF. I know Hughes had 43 goals and 99 pts last season but Bedard will do this in his rookie season

I'm not so sure about that. He was very good in his first preseason game, but last night he was really really bad. He still broke through with a couple of chances (including impressively walking Edvinsson), but for the most part he was pretty easily handled by Detroit's preseason defense. He made a ton of bad decisions with the puck and was turning it over all over the place, and seemed pretty disinterested in playing defense - he's been the last man back in the defensive zone an awful lot for a center, and has had an early tendency to fly the zone and look for long stretch passes instead of supporting the breakout like a true C.

He's still gonna put up big numbers (guessing ~35-40g ~75-80p) but it might take longer than expected for him to become an elite player, especially in terns of all around play. He might end up better off at wing this year.

I'll be really curious to see how teams adapt to defending him. Teams have so much more game tape available for these top rookies than they used to, so I would expect him to be heavily game planned against. Even last night, you could see how Detroit's defenders were anticipating his attempts to change his shooting angle to get his shot off.

 

[centipede2233]

I wouldn’t read too much into the redwings game. The redwings iced a better lineup than the AHL squad the hawks had.

 

[Gold Standard]

I'm really surprised it's not 100% Bedard. Like WTF. I know Hughes had 43 goals and 99 pts last season but Bedard will do this in his rookie season

I doubt it very much he comes close to that his rookie season. 60-70 pts is much more realistic. The difference between Hughes and Bedard is, while it took Hughes 120+ NHL games to figure it all out, I suspect Bedard's learning curve to be more around 15-25 NHL games.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I wouldn’t read too much into the redwings game. The redwings iced a better lineup than the AHL squad the hawks had.

Yeah it might not be wise to draw conclusions, but a lot of what I saw weren't all that surprising to me after watching his junior career. Too much hero hockey, forcing plays, lack of interest in defending, blowing the zone to get stretch passes. He's definitely going to figure it out, but it's going to take time. Could be a few months, could be a few years, but with his brain and talent, there's no question that he'll figure it out.

I just don't think he's going to blow to doors off the league right off the bat like many suspect. Teams are going to be game planning against him like he's never experienced, and it might be hard for him to get opportunities, especially if he has to continue to create them himself. Pretty much all of his chances to this point have been self generated.

 

[centipede2233]

Yeah it might not be wise to draw conclusions, but a lot of what I saw weren't all that surprising to me after watching his junior career. Too much hero hockey, forcing plays, lack of interest in defending, blowing the zone to get stretch passes. He's definitely going to figure it out, but it's going to take time. Could be a few months, could be a few years, but with his brain and talent, there's no question that he'll figure it out.

I just don't think he's going to blow to doors off the league right off the bat like many suspect. Teams are going to be game planning against him like he's never experienced, and it might be hard for him to get opportunities, especially if he has to continue to create them himself. Pretty much all of his chances to this point have been self generated.

What you say could be true, but it’s a 32 team league. The league is more watered down than ever before. And with a flat cap the last few years, almost every team will be exploited. Yes teams will game plan against bedard, but I’d say there are atleast 15 teams who can game plan all they want, bedard will get his points. I am eager to see how he does.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

I doubt it very much he comes close to that his rookie season. 60-70 pts is much more realistic. The difference between Hughes and Bedard is, while it took Hughes 120+ NHL games to figure it all out, I suspect Bedard's learning curve to be more around 15-25 NHL games.

Hughes was just so underdeveloped compared to Bedard too, and kept getting hurt and then got Covid. He looked like he was already figuring it out when he was healthy in his second season.

Bedard is short but much stronger. I suspect that by the time Christmas rolls around he'll have found his niche, he's too smart - I bet from Jan 1 onwards he'll be a PPG+ player, and then he'll really breakout in his 2nd year.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

What you say could be true, but it’s a 32 team league. The league is more watered down than ever before. And with a flat cap the last few years, almost every team will be exploited. Yes teams will game plan against bedard, but I’d say there are atleast 15 teams who can game plan all they want, bedard will get his points.

Yeah I fully expect him to have some pretty incredible games this year where he just punishes the opposition. I actually think he'll be lights out in his first game, he excels in those big moments.

I am eager to see how he does.

We can agree on that!

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

I'm really surprised it's not 100% Bedard. Like WTF. I know Hughes had 43 goals and 99 pts last season but Bedard will do this in his rookie season

Lol you people are insane.

 

[authentic]

I doubt it very much he comes close to that his rookie season. 60-70 pts is much more realistic. The difference between Hughes and Bedard is, while it took Hughes 120+ NHL games to figure it all out, I suspect Bedard's learning curve to be more around 15-25 NHL games.

He'll go over a point per game. That 60-70 points could've been true 10 years ago when those were the totals of the 30th best scorer. 30th best scorer today has 80 points atleast.

 

[Gold Standard]

He'll go over a point per game. That 60-70 points could've been true 10 years ago when those were the totals of the 30th best scorer. 30th best scorer today has 80 points atleast.

I don't think so. I don't think he has the supporting cast around him to generate those kind of stats. but I'll be glad to be wrong and see him light it up for 90-100 pt. ROY season all on his own. That would, imo, make him the best prospect since Lindros, maybe even Lemieux. It will be fun tuning into Madhouse on Madison games again. It's been a few years. Looking forward to 10.10. One week to go.

 

[AfroThunder396]

I'll take Jack Hughes purely because of the contract. He has already made that 8M cap hit a steal, if he were to sign that contract today the Devils would be looking something closer to 10.5-12M. And his value is only going to get better.

Bedard *might* end up being the better player, but if he exceeds Jack Hughes on the ice he's going to get a much bigger deal. What is the cap going to look like three years from now, with inflation and new benchmark-setting deals? I don't think it's crazy top project that Bedard could be looking at upwards of +12M on his first deal - if he is as good as many are predicting. And if that's the case, I doubt the difference in on-ice play would be enough to justify the huge difference in cap.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Bedard is really fighting it again tonight, it's so odd to see him struggling so much. I know he's had some points but really hasn't been very good outside of his first game. Seems to be gripping the stick too tight which I've never seen from him.

He's further away from present day Hughes than I even expected.

 

[Aqualung]

Bedard is really fighting it again tonight, it's so odd to see him struggling so much. I know he's had some points but really hasn't been very good outside of his first game. Seems to be gripping the stick too tight which I've never seen from him.

He's further away from present day Hughes than I even expected.

Ahead of rookie Hughes though. And he’s not as bad your making him out to be tonight.

 

[WhiskeyYerTheDevils]

Ahead of rookie Hughes though. And he’s not as bad your making him out to be tonight.

Definitely ahead of rookie Hughes, but there are tons of people expecting him to be as good as current Hughes and he's just not there.

He's got tons of talent, there's no doubt in my mind that he'll figure it out. But he's struggled a lot more than I expected, especially for a guy with his IQ. The game hasn't looked easy for him yet.

 

[Xirik]

Definitely ahead of rookie Hughes, but there are tons of people expecting him to be as good as current Hughes and he's just not there.

He's got tons of talent, there's no doubt in my mind that he'll figure it out. But he's struggled a lot more than I expected, especially for a guy with his IQ. The game hasn't looked easy for him yet.

Definitely not as good as current day Hughes which a large portion of the people in this thread say Bedard already is.

 

[TBF1972]

Definitely not as good as current day Hughes which a large portion of the people in this thread say Bedard already is.

to be fair most of them say by the end of season. still unreal expectation and unnecessary burden for bedard's nhl career start.