Alexandre Daigle vs Bedard/Michkov

[Kshahdoo]

Was Daigle as good as these two at age 15/16? He played his first U20 WJC at age 17 (almost 18) and wasn't that impressive, but there are just weren't U17 and U18 international tournaments back to then to compare him to modern kids.

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[seventieslord]

Probably the best comparable you'll get (statistically) is waiting to see what Bedard does as a 16 year old in the WHL next season and compare to Daigle's 1991-92 season.

Still not apples to apples - because Daigle in 91-92 is 5 months older than Bedard in 21-22 (and yes that absolutely does matter) - and because Daigle was in a league where scoring was up at 4.21 GPG (the current WHL is around 3.27).

Based on Bedard's 20-21 pace and the exponential growth you expect to see from age 15 to 16 (and the 20 year olds aging out, etc) - it's hard to imagine that Bedard will be anywhere near Daigle's 91-92 pace of "only" 1.67 PPG - AND he'll be 5 months younger, AND he's in a league where everyone should already be expected to score 22% less.

Anyway, point of all this is, statistically at least, there's every reason to believe Bedard is a Crosby/McDavid level prospect, possibly even greater. To keep this historical for this section, no, I would not say Daigle is a good historical comparison for him, though others would have to comment from an eye test perspective - I only saw him in the NHL.

 

[MXD]

I'm not even certain Alexandre Daigle would be the best 16 years old from Québec during the 90ies, and by that I mean that he certainly wasn't (it was Vincent Lecavalier).

You can somehow compare their U15 season when they were both 14 years old : Lecavalier was under 2 PPG and Bedard was above 2 PPG, and while I can't prove it, I'm quite certain Bedard did so with lower scoring levels.

 

[Staniowski]

I didn't see Daigle play until he was 17....but Bedard is certainly a bigger prospect than Daigle was at the same age as Bedard is now. And, actually, Daigle was never as big of a prospect as Bedard is now.

I saw both Daigle and Kariya play in their draft year, and there was no doubt in my mind that Kariya was a lot better.

As for Michkov....he looks like similar potential as Kucherov, although Kucherov was not identified as that big of a prospect, and was under-rated for several years. But Kucherov scored similar to what Michkov has been doing. Kucherov is the all-time best 16-year-old scorer in the MHL, which Michkov almost matched. And Kucherov is the all-time single tournament best scorer in the W-U18 tournament....although Michkov played at a year younger.

 

[Big Phil]

I think he is past Daigle.

I am just trying to think of a player who dominated an international tournament at the level Bedard did - when he was at least two years younger than everyone else. The only comparison I can think of is Gretzky and his 17 points in 6 games during the 1978 WJC when he was 16 playing against 18 and 19 year olds. Not comparing anything, as I really ought to see more of Bedard first (I've seen more of 2022 prospect Shane Wright a lot more) but if I am not mistaken has anyone else dominated at a tournament like that when they were that much younger as Bedard did in the U18 this year?

 

[MadLuke]

has anyone else dominated at a tournament like that when they were that much younger as Bedard did in the U18 this year?

Was McDavid much older ?

 

[Big Phil]

Was McDavid much older ?

Looks like he was two years before his draft year before he had a big tournament in the U18s as well. Okay, so yeah, we are looking at McDavid and Gretzky. Pretty nifty company for Bedard.