The Hockey PDOcast - First Impressions of Connor Bedard

Episode Date: October 16, 2023

Dimitri Filipovic is joined by Jesse Marshall to break down the tape of Connor Bedard's first three games and discuss what he's doing that's allowing him to be so effective right out of the gate.This podcast is produced by Dominic Sramaty.The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate If you'd like to gain access to the two extra shows we're doing each week this season, you can subscribe to our Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/thehockeypdocast/membership If you'd like to participate in the conversation and join the community we're building over on Discord, you can do so by signing up for the Hockey PDOcast's server here: https://discord.gg/a2QGRpJc84 The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

2015. It's the Hockey PEDEOCast with your host, Dmitri Filipo. Welcome to the HockeyPedocast. My name is Dimitri Philipovic and joining me is my good buddy, Jesse Marshall. Jesse, what's going on, man? Dimitri, good to be back for another year of player analysis. Thanks for having me. It's our first installment of the film club for the 2020, 23, 2024 season. It's going to take some getting used to to get the seasons right here. after a, I would say, Calderworthy debut by us last season, introducing this concept on the podcast.

We've listened to the people. And this year, we're going to try to blow it out even further. So we're going to incorporate some video moving forward. It's actually going to live up to its name, the film club. And you can actually watch along with us as we're talking. If you're interested in doing so, I experimented with it last week with Daryl Belfrey. We did a Jack Hughes episode, which I really liked and people seemed to enjoy.

Big shoes to fill for us here. but you can go on the Hockey P.D. Ocast YouTube channel to watch that. Don't worry, though, if you're still consuming this in your car, on your way to work, doing errands around the house and you're just listening to it on the podcast feed or on the radio, you can do so as well. It won't be prohibitive for you. We will make sure to cater it to everyone, depending on your interest, so you can enjoy along with us here.

So I thought that a good fitting introductory topic for us this season for the first film club of the year would be Connor Bedard. right we've seen now his first three games in the nchel i think we've been had a chance to go back and work through the tape see some early impressions maybe little subtleties to his game that he's already showing us on tape little things that he could possibly adjust as he gets further along into his career as the season goes long there's so much for us to dig into here is such a fascinating player so jesse let's get into it yeah uh everybody knew i think demetri connor baudard had this really deep toolbox of offensive skills, right? We're going to talk about a shot.

I'm sure we'll talk about it. The release, you know, the volatility, the sort of ability he has to like magnetize the puck to his stick and toe drags and work around defenders. But I thought that for me anyway, and sort of like this early three game sample in the first, you know, dawn of his NHL career, off puck movement has really been the thing that's impressed me the most, right?

I think there's an exaggeration somewhat enlisting, him at 510 a buck 85 i don't necessarily think he's meeting that mark especially on the weight side they probably jacked that up a little bit but these are big players he's going against right big size defensemen some that have been moving guys around for years and there's a legitimate question to ask is like when he's got the puck on a stick in transition in the offensive zone how's it going to find space and what's he going to do in traffic and i think he's sort of the early processes of answering those questions and it's kind of been fun to watch i think you know the game of hockey, we talk about this every episode, Demetri, there's an ebb and flow that happens and how you

react in those transitions where a play changes from offense to defense can often dictate the course of your career. These things are happening inside of the offensive zone too, right? As a puck gets dumped into the corner, the defense is going to shift towards that corner. He has this almost ethereal understanding of where the other nine players on the ice are and the direction that he can send that puck that's not only to a teammate or in the area of a teammate. But the opposite direction of where everyone else is moving. That's been the most impressive part to me is this sort of like chess match. He's playing with everyone.

Hey, at the end of the day, he's not going to cut through the middle of the ice and knock four people over. He's got to find creative ways to get rid of the puck, find his teammates, to get to space that's premium real estate. And Dimitri, he's doing it with just these unbelievable one motion, no look behind the back passes that keep the puck moving in a grain that again is the opposite direction of the one that everyone moves in. I'm of the opinion. I'm sure you're going to agree with me. You can't teach this stuff, right?

You either have it or you don't. And I would venture to say, you know, McDavid, for me, Demetri was always more like the speed, right? The speed and the skill. And I'm not saying he can't think the game in an ethereal level. But this is like shades of Sidney Crosby here with the way that Badar can step plays up and navigate through open ice. That to me has been just the most impressive part of the early part of his campaign.

Well, we're going to get into all out here, and you mentioned some of the stuff that I want to talk about. I just think as a sweeping kind of introductory statement to what we've seen on the tape as we get a roll in here is just in watching back each shift so far with greater focus, there's two things that have stood out to me above all else. And one of them that you alluded to there is the level of detail in which everything he does incorporates. It's just so off the charts, even when he's trying stuff and it doesn't work out. it seems like almost every single motion has some sort of purpose behind it, right? There's nothing there's nothing wasted. It's almost like he's testing what works and what does and enacting accordingly. There's no dumbing it down.

I think the fear we always have is that when a young player comes into the NHL, they're just going to want to acclimate themselves and kind of fit in with everyone else and not rock the boat too much, right? And so they're going to kind of oversimplify or dumb down their game and then they're not going to get the results that they're used to. and then everyone's going to become frustrated and then we're going to be wondering why isn't this guy producing up to all the reputation and all the hype and then it goes too far and they become a bust and you know it just kind of spirals out of control and in this case it feels like he's for better and worse playing the game that got him to this level right that made him a phenom that made him the first overall pick that made him as hyped as he is and I think it's a blast seeing players come into this league and do exactly that in terms of just like trying to see you and test what's going to work for them because obviously he was able to do pretty much anything he wanted to in Major Junior and at all the international events for his age range.

Now coming into the best league in the world, all of a sudden, some of that stuff just isn't going to work. And so it's up to him to kind of test the limits of what's possible and what's not. And I think that's exactly what we've seen in these three games. And that's really exciting from my perspective. Yeah, he's looking for weaknesses in the fence, right? They're trying to find his way to bust out. I think if you go from like there's already been an involution in a small period of time here,

Demetri, where like he's gone from, I think, testing people up the middle. That doesn't work to, you know, everybody knows he's on the ice, Demetri. He's getting a lot of attention. Players move sometimes defensively in packs, but he's been able to isolate one guy out of that pack and attack him and work through that in a layer that gives him that extra space he needs. So let's say you're stacking three guys at the blue line, Dimitri. He's finding, finding. a way to, you know, sort of deceptively hide his path through the neutral zone, get himself

angularly and momentum-wise into a place where he's just attacking one of those players and then working behind the rest of him with his speed. Like, yeah, I mean, it's, you know, you can see it on tape, but it has just been this real evolution for him in terms of, you know, how he's getting around defenders and not really skating into the teeth of them as much. Well, his brain almost is operating like a supercomputer, right? Like the ability to kind of, uh, where you mentioned, their process stuff in real time and then recalibrate for it. It's one thing to go back after the game between games and watch tape and then be like, oh, this happened.

That's interesting. And then try to act accordingly next time. He's almost doing it sometimes within the shift, but definitely on a shift to shift basis. Right. I think in that opener in his first game in the league against the Penguins, there were a couple times early on where he tried to go right at either Chris LaTang or Eric Carlson, the rush and found that some of the moves that he might have been able to kind of effortlessly get around other defensemen he played against previously weren't really working.

And then as the game went along, he sets up the first goal with almost a carbon copy that he is slightly adjusted to kind of get an angle on the tank, get around to the outside, and then work it back up and let the play kind of roll out from there. And so just seeing those corrections from him and like sometimes something might not work, but later on I assure you that if he's put in a similar spot, he's going to do something slightly different that will yield better results. That's really cool. And he's getting those opportunities because he's always around the puck, right? So early in a game, if something doesn't work, that situation probably will arise again just because of how often he is around it. And so I think

those mistakes that he's making, and there's certainly been some, right? Like he got caught a couple times trying to go one on three and turns the puck over or he's not used to like getting the puck up against the wall and all of a sudden, you know, a fire hydrant like Nolichari just comes and hits him and in the nameplay to knocks him down off the puck. And he's like, oh, wow, I'm not really used to this. He's going to learn the kind of intricacies of getting rid of the puck in a more timely manner in those situations. But those mistakes for me, Jesse, are a feature, not a bug, right?

Like, it's what makes him special. Sure. Yeah. And I love this clip that we're showing on the screen for those that can't see it. It's him coming from one side of the ice to the far corner to just grab the puck out of a deep wall scrum, take it himself, walk it to the front of the net, and get a quality scoring chance. And that speaks to exactly what you were talking about earlier.

There's playing within the structure of the system, which I think he's done very well. And then there's him identifying opportunity to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and say, I don't like the way this is working. And I feel like I have a better angle on this puck. I feel like I can just leave my position, you know, communicate what I'm doing. I've seen him. I don't know if you've noticed this, but he's been whacking his stick on the puck. Like loud beaver tails just one time.

And you can hear his voice, even if he's in the middle of the ice from the mic on the boards. He is a very communicative player. So it works out because when he's making these runs and he's deviating from, you know, maybe what the system says he should do to take an individualistic chance, everybody knows. You know, you can watch it on tape. You know, he's laying down a stick on the ice. He's yelling out to somebody, you know, he's pointing. There's, you know, this is a fluid game.

And the way I view Connor Bedard is almost like a levy gate, right? He doesn't stop that water for mushing through. He lets it just keep going. He's like a conduit almost. you know, anytime he has a touch, it's moving to an area that's going to be productive, whether that's, again, area pass tape to tape, one motion sweeping behind his back. He just keeps things going forward at an efficient level of pace that I think is rare, even of veterans of this game.

They struggle with that. And it's not always about like the Herkulean side of it. It's just how can I put a touch on this puck to keep it going in the right direction and keep this play moving. Well, something I've noticed with him, I mean, his movement patterns in the, I guess in all three zones, really, in terms of how he makes himself, like,

accessible to the puck and always provides it with an opportunity to hit him if you're the teammate. But especially in the offensive zone, it's like we've seen already early into his career, he's not going to sneak up on anyone, right? Even if you haven't played against him, if you're an opponent, you're well aware of Conner-Bredard and what he's capable of and kind of how highly everyone speaks of him.

And so, you know, you watch in the first game on the power play, the penalty kill all of a sudden has either Nolachari or Lars Eller showing him the greatest sign of respect, which is like almost like shadowing towards him. And a couple times, they were so aggressive in doing so following him out to the line that even when he wasn't a threat, the puck would get worked down. And all of a sudden, it's a four on three opportunity to work downhill. Pick your poison, right? Exactly, right? And so that's one thing. I guess my question for you is because his game is so predicated on. that freelancing, like I think he's just going to have to not play.

Like the structure is is Connor Bedard and it's up to everyone to work around him. He's talented enough that he's going to still able to be able to get you the puck even if you're not on the same page as them. But his game is so predicated on timing and on rhythm and off of those unique movements for him to get open in the offensive zone that I'm curious to see what, like this is obviously kind of a transition for them, right? They bring in Taylor Hall. He gets hurt in the second game.

it sounds like the injury is not going to be as serious as we first thought. But they bring in Ryan Donato. They're players who probably won't be playing with him whenever we get closer to a final form in a couple of years. And I'm sure this could just be more organic talent that they either draft or sign or trade for along the way. But I'd almost love to see them experiment with a guy like Lucas Reichel with him beyond just the power play.

I know they want to play him down the middle as well and give him those reps. But I just think you need elite thinkers to be able to end. execute on the same wavelength as him because his game isn't really like a Nathan McKinnon or Connor McDavid, right? They're just so like sheer force and speed that they're going to almost overwhelm and it doesn't matter what you do. But in Bedard's case, it kind of matters that his teammates are able to understand where he's going to be and where he needs them to be for them to get the most out of what he's capable. Yeah, 100%. I think that's unfortunate thing about Taylor Hall injury

from a fan perspective is that he's probably one of those handful of guys you'd immediately think of off your head and say this is somebody who can make the most of a guy who can freelance like this, both with and without the puck, right? Because I stress, it's not just him taking the puck and deviating. It's what he does away from it, finding open space, going off the beaten path, looking for ways to get himself open and anticipating which direction the play is going to go. I think that's an important one as well. His pre-reads are very strong in terms of where a puck's going to squirt out. How can I get myself in a position to be the first touch here after this wall battles over?

But you have to have players that are co-able to both read off of what he's doing, you know, process the game in more of like a freelance audibled fashion, and then also co-create space. You know, I think a nightmare for a guy like Connor Bedard is a forward that just stands in front of the net with a stick down waiting for him to shoot it. That's not going to work. You know, sure, you're committing one defensive resource down low in front of the net, but he needs more than that, you know, like he,

You know, he's looking for more by virtue of his movement. So I think you're right. You know, this is a transitionary period for them. These aren't the players that he's going to make his home with, you know. But I think about, you know, some of the less glamorous players that Sidney Crosby's play with. Chris Cunitz was one of the best linemates he's ever had. And he wasn't exactly the most talented guy of all time. He just knew how to get loose pucks and then get them to Sidney Crosby.

Like that's the kind of player you're looking for, right? as space creators and great thinkers, they come in all shapes and forms. They don't have to be 50 goal scores. That can be all manner of player. But to me, Dimitri, you're wasting his ability and his talent. You look at the tape from junior. You look at the tape from the first three games. He likes to wheel and deal.

He likes to be in motion. And sometimes that motion is sort of antithetical to something that you might be doing at the time, but he's one step ahead of you. That's a delicate ecosystem to play in. Not everybody's built for that. And there's easy ways to waste it. Well, I think, I mean, in the first three games, I can only really think of like one time where he didn't have to do it himself. And it was, I think, against the penguins where Taylor Hall kind of brought the puck up the ice and he was able to sort of get into a soft spot and coverage in the slot and get a good shot off the rush off of it.

And that's really a nice luxury to be able to have someone like Hall who can carry the puck, take some of that attention off of him and allow him to be more sneaky and finding those open spots. odds. Otherwise, he's had to do it all himself. And so I like speed with him. I like someone who can think along that level with him. But the level of involvement here, like the number of puck touches he's seeing for game how much he's playing. He's playing north of 22 minutes a game. How involved he's been. He has Jesse 30 shot attempts in three games. That's third in the league. Now, he's played three games. A lot of players have only played two or one so far. But Philip Forsberg leads the league with 35. Nathan McKinnon absolutely comically has 33 shot attempts in two games.

And then Connor Bredard is third on that list. He's got 10 scoring chances. He set up 18 shots with shot assists for his teammates. So everything has been flowing through him. And he's doing that during a time where, as we've seen, and part of it is because all three of these first three games have been on the road as they start on this, I believe five game road trip to start the year, he's going against the top defensive assignments, right?

In game one, he got a ton of Crosby. and the penguins really seemed to like using Marcus Pedersen and Eric Carlson against them. In game two, he almost exclusively saw the Hampus Lindholm, Brennan Carlo, pairing. And then in game three, there was a lot of David Savard out there to kind of just frustrate him and try to block shots. And so he's doing it against top players against guys who are shadowing him and giving him a ton of attention. And he's still been able to create this much. And I think that's why it's exciting, right? I've seen people be like, oh, it's so frustrating how the league and these broadcasts are just,

you know, they're pushing this Connor Bardard story so much. Like it's getting tiring. It's like, no, this is exactly what they should be doing. I mean, first off, we always complain about how this league doesn't properly, you know, promote its young stars. But this is an 18-year-old phenom who's stepping into the NHL and immediately making things happen in very detailed, cool ways. And that's exactly what the lead should be doing, promoting how fun that product can be when something like this happens. Yeah. I mean, I think that's the critical piece, right? Like, what is he doing at his age? And more importantly, again, his size, right? Like, I'm not keep mentioning that because, you know, there's been times where he's gotten tossed around.

I mean, there's a detriment to being the height and weight that he is and having to build that he has. You know, I only think it's really affected him in any tangible way outside of getting knocked around a couple few times. But, you know, think about what this is going to look like in a couple years, you know, I think about what this is going to look like, whether he's got a full season under his belt, learning NHL defensemen tendencies, learning goaltending tendencies. And I think the one thing we haven't captured yet from him, right, is like, the jaw-dropping electric wrister, right? Like, it just hasn't come yet.

It's going to, it'll be there before you know it. But people, I don't think, have a full grasp and understanding. Like, I don't know that the casual observer quite understands the velocity with which she can really step up. And there's been a lot of, like, you know, I think people getting in front of him, he's had a lot of shots blocked. I think he's still learning about, you know, what to do in situations, Dimitri, when he comes in and he's the lone guy into the zone.

and he's got to wait for help. I think that's been like a struggle point for him. And it's led to a lot of like weird exterior perimeter shots where he's just trying to keep the plague going, keep something alive and, you know, keep things running. But with how much he can find the middle, with how much he can attack, you know, again, out and into the offensive zone against the grain,

it's the quickness with which he can release this thing. It's almost like there's times to be where we don't even see his stick move. And the puck just, just goes off of it at 90 miles an hour. And you're thinking, how is this, how is this physically possible? All of this work we talk about is leading up to getting into space where he can use that. And again, I think we've been talking this whole time about you can see this evolution game by game of him like getting into different spaces in different areas to try to release that thing. You know, there's going to be a time where I think, you know, you're going to look back on these early games and,

laugh because, you know, he's not getting a lot through now, but once he starts to, I think, figure out lanes and especially what to do when he's got little to no gap coming into the zone, mastering that is going to unlock a whole new set of possibilities for him. Well, that's the thing. As impressive and productive as he's been, he's got a point in every game, right? He's got a goal two assists. The goal came off of kind of like one of these plays we're talking about where it was a multiple effort, you know, gets into the zone off a crafty play, gets a shot.

off, gets his own rebound, wrap around goal, he hasn't actually scored off of what was, you know, billed as the main event or the biggest tool in his toolkit so far. And it hasn't been for a lack of effort. He's gotten the shots off as we, as we've mentioned. The thing is, is like, there's no size concerns for me here in terms of like physicality or anything. Like he's so crafty at getting around. The adjustment he's had is actually been, I think, with just like the defensive sticks and reach and the caliber of that at this level. And maybe part of it is, you know, in the first three games, he's gone up against a lot of Ryan Graves, Brandon Carlo, who are like two of the biggest reach monsters in the league.

And then David Savard, who's basically just like programmed to stand in front of the net and block shots. And so that can be very frustrating for a shooter like him. We've seen still, though, even though he hasn't connected on them, what a threat that shot can be, how quickly it comes off. and just like that dragon release, how scary that could be. So there's no doubt on my mind that as we get going here with more games, he's going to rattle off a run where a bunch of those turn into goals and become highlight worthy plays.

And that's, I can't wait for that, right? It seems like it's only a matter of time. It could happen. They're playing the Leafs tonight. It could happen at any point. And I'm just waiting for it because that's sort of almost been like the last puzzle of this puzzle piece of this so far that we haven't really seen lock into place yet. Yeah, that's it.

I think we're going to get a lot of opportunity to see it too on that power play, Dimitri. I'm a big fan of having him up at the top of the point by himself and unlocks just a world of possibilities for him up there. And I don't know that I've seen a lot of penalty killers that are brave enough to go up there and try to challenge him because there's a very real chance you're going to end up on SportsCenter the next morning for all the wrong reasons. It's very difficult to dispossess him of the puck in a situation like that.

And people seem to be respecting it. You know, there's the shot. We've talked about that. We've talked about the vision. Being in that position allows him to work both inward and outward to distribute the puck in ways that he sees fit based on whatever that situation calls for. There was a situation. I mean, I think we might actually have it somewhere on here.

But he's at the point on the power play. There's a lane right down the middle of the ice and he threw the little English on it and killed the puck right down the center. to the front of the net for a prime scoring chance. And it was just like he was playing botchy, you know. And the creativity that that spot gives him is completely unbelievable. And we've already seen him sort of like attacking the middle more, right? Getting into position where, you know, he's already commanding this space, right?

We've talked about this cushion, this hat that he's got up at the top of the point. He's using that cushion to get closer and closer and closer to scoring areas. he's eating it up. You know, that, that to me has been a lot of fun to watch. And there's just sort of this like evolving level of aggression from him on the power play that we've gotten to see where he's, I think, almost sort of becoming cognizant that people are afraid to go up there, even though he's forward and challenge him at the point. He was kind of taking that and running with it.

Well, you kind of have to move him around. I think that's smart. It also speaks to his versatility that he's not necessarily just doesn't have to be setting that one spot to be effective. There it is right there. You see the play there and it actually led to the goal against the Habs. I mean, that was the touch he put on it to get it to Perry. It was absolutely ridiculous.

And you're right. You kind of want to move around just to maintain that level of unpredictability. The pieces around him are necessarily ideal. I still think at this point to maximize on a lot of the opportunities he creates, but that's fine. This isn't the endgame for them. I like him at the top. I mean, obviously, in an ideal world, you do all of this just so that when he gets into that prime shooting position, he's got a bit more airspace because if teams are going to be sitting on it,

even if it does create four on threes for the rest of the teammates, he's so much more talented than them that I want him still factoring into the play, right? I much prefer a 5-on-4 play where Connor had a puck on a stick as opposed to a four-on-three play where Ryan Donato has it on a stick or something, right? And so how they move them around and how they move all those pieces will be fun to watch moving forward. But yeah, the top of that set on the power play is certainly an interesting place to put them.

Yeah, it gives them an opportunity to make a lot of run. and I think he creates sort of like these micro-odd-man breaks, almost if that makes sense. You know, if he's got somebody on the wall, you know, he gets around him. He's got 15 feet of space in front of him and somebody, you know, alongside him somewhere to help him out. So, you know, it's just that, again, I got to go back to it, that understanding of which direction to go is just so critical for me.

And you'll, you routinely see him. And I think this is a mark of a lot of really great scoring forwards around the world is the ability to head the opposite direction that the play is going, take yourself completely out of the fray and then reenter it unmarked. From my money, he's already got, he's already got that part down. And then, you know, posturally, Dimitri, he's so good at constantly being available for something, you know, he's got his shoulders open a lot, you know, almost playing angrily to where his guy is.

So if something comes through to him quickly, he doesn't have to make an adjustment, boom, puck's gone, right? He's already got it open. And he's almost like walking around with. this thing like half cocked and loaded ready to go, you know, the whole time. So I've, to me, again, there's just a high level of communication that takes place from him with his body, right? He's speaking when he's got his arms open like that and that stick, you know, jacked up a

little bit. That's a message to the puck here. Like, I'm here. Give it to me. And he doesn't have to say anything or tap and stick on the ice. It's just a posture of somebody who wants and is about to shoot a puck. And I think he carries that with him through so many transitions. offensive moments that you get him a couple super talented playmakers like we said earlier you know

the player profiles you were talking about there's a lot of really interesting give and go potentials playing with a guy like that well it's almost like how in like i listen to a lot of like NFL podcasts and they always talk about the differentiators and in caliber of quarterback play in particular like arm strength in terms of being able to throw it in between the numbers versus on the outside and kind of how that opens the field for you, just being able to execute on those different routes. And that's almost kind of the same thing here, right? I think it's going to take a certain requisite talent level

just to be able to recognize and then get the puck to Badaard where he's getting here because you're watching these clips. It's remarkable how he's funneling through that middle, despite being an undersized player. He's so fearless, but he's also just able to get lost and then all of a sudden pop up wide open. and there's times where it's lost because they weren't able to get him the puck. But it's very encouraging that he's still getting to those spots on the ice just time and time again

and understanding that that is the most dangerous place for him to be as opposed to just kind of hang it around on the outskirts in the offensive zone and being a bit more tentative. I guess the analogy I'd make for it, Dimitri, is he sets fire to your kitchen. And while you're putting that fire on the kitchen, he set fire to the bedroom upstairs. You've just barely gotten the fire in the kitchen now and he's already lit another one. And you can smell it, but there's nothing you can do about it. So he keeps putting himself, like you said, in these second and third attack positions,

where it's just, again, you know, all good players have this is the understanding of where the puck is going to go, you know. And you can see him, you know, I think whether it's in the defensive zone or the offensive zone, knowing that natural break point, you know, and that natural, where should I wave the white flag here? Like, where have we? What have we really lost? You know, he'll, I think he lingers about,

and gives his teammates a lot of benefits of the doubt. It's like hasn't affected him defensively, right? But where a lot of players would, like, turn up ice and maybe say like, you know, live to fight another day, he either enters the fray or puts himself in this position that no one else is in where this, oh, where did it score it out? Right to Connor Boudard, right? How did he know that?

So it's, it's the understanding of not abandoning ship. And, you know, I'd be just fine if he didn't even try to play defense. I don't care. Like whatever. Let him go. Let him do whatever he wants in the defensive zone. Like let him freelance. He's committed. He's present. Right. But to me, it's the timing, right? And the ability to say, like, now is the time to go. Now is the time to support. It's all timed so well to where like the puck is just hitting his stick at just the right moments. He knows when to make those runs. He knows when to break off and, you know, enter the fray. Like I said, I mean, it's just, you know, we talk about him being a conduit, right? this is what I'm talking about is this stuff where he's just, you know, getting the puck and then quickly releasing it or being in the right position to release it in the first place. It just keeps things moving forward.

It keeps things rolling up ice seamlessly. And this is not a household trait, right? This is not knowing the, you know, lingering a little too long in the offensive zone is the thing that most coaches or defensive zone. Or, yeah, offensive zone is probably a thing that coaches hate, right? They don't like that. They want you to be in position in the neutral zone to quell the, breakout that's going to inevitably come from the other team. But he's just got that sense for, you know, where you'd see someone else peel off.

He stays and knows almost inherently that that thing's not dead yet. So, yeah, I'm right there with you. Well, look at this support here. Andreas Anthony's he who gets himself into a tough spot, one on two, all of a sudden, comes all the way from the point, understands where it's going to go. That was in a power play, right? Like, he's the... No, look at that.

Oh, this is even striking. Okay. The Bruins are five defenders out there, which makes even more impressive, I think. goes against Carlo and Linholm. I mean, yeah, that understanding, like he obviously just understands he has that level of intellect where he knows and feel for the game.

He knows where the puck's going to go. Look how much space he traveled there too, right? Like, I'm not that people in the podcast can't see, but we're talking about going from the blue line to the corner. Like, that is a long pathway. That's great. I do say this a little bit in just, but I echo what you're saying in the sense that,

especially this year, I mean, hasn't there's these first three games, and I'm sure there's going to be a patch where this isn't the case, and they just get absolutely blown out of the water. But losing games while still doing so in a competitive manner where guys like Bedard and Reichel and Kortinski

are getting high value reps and opportunity to get all of this under their belt for when it does matter, that's kind of the best case scenario, right? Like, I don't eventually, I guess it'll matter depending on how the rest of the team is constructed around him. But for the most part, it doesn't really matter. like defensively and stuff like that. I want him cheating a little bit to get out in transition because otherwise as we've seen,

this team's probably going to struggle to create offense when he's not on the ice for the most part. And so, yeah, that's our best or clearest path towards generating chances. Let's kind of double down on that and it doesn't matter. I don't think he's going to, he understands the game so well already that I don't think cheating for offense a little bit this season

is going to all of a sudden hamper him in terms of, oh, he's learning bad, habits for the future. Like I think he's going to understand that even defensively, if you know where the puck is going to go, you know where you need to be. And so I'm not worried about that as a future sort of development for him. Yeah, bad habit to me would be seeing the opportunity to take that puck or get into that position and not taking it, right? Like that's the bad habit. You know, that's sort of like, non-interest in defense for the betterment of the team is your only, like you said, the golden ticket, right? That's your, that's your easy zone entry and your easy way to get the pressure

out and relief from your defensive zone. So no, I agree with you. And I think that, you know, again, you mentioned this already, right? But like, the evolution of his zone entry game is something that I'm particularly intrigued in. And like that was a great clip right there where you've got a pack of four penguins together, right? And you see, you know, maybe I could take this in the middle. Maybe it's trying to isolate one out of that pack of four, right? How can I approach this situation with a speed and B angle that allows me to get this puck from my from forehand to backhand or vice versa around one of these four players and behind the pack as a whole that's i think to me what i'm i'm looking for more of you know we've talked a lot about

skating into the teeth so far on the show um you know i think that's still been a you know it's obviously it's been a learning he's played three games in the league but that's still been the biggest evolution for me is that like sense of understanding, you know, where he's at in sort of the grand scheme of the forecheck, right? The other team's forecheck, not his own. The other team's forecheck. And there's sort of like, I think some of the longer journeys taken with the puck on his stick have sort of been like self-isolating almost, right? And like he puts them in these weird positions where he doesn't really have a pass. He doesn't really have a shot. And he's like in a sort of side of the net area with a lot of coverage on him. Um, that,

It's going to come with time. I think I view that as kind of a necessity in the grand scheme of things, right? That's why I said it's kind of like a feature or not a bug because it's like ultimately I think it's going to be a net positive because in a lot of those cases, certainly he skates himself in the trouble, turns the puck over. It's like, all right, you can't go one on three the way you used to maybe last season. At the same time, a number of those times, maybe not one on three, but one on two, he's drawing a defender and he's dropping the puck off and all of a sudden that's how they've created

a couple of their goals so far through just him attracting that attention and then getting it into open space. And so that's kind of, that's part of the package, right? It's kind of what you get. You get the turnovers, but you also get the scintillating plays that only a handful of players in the world can do time and time again. I think that as he ages, though, we'll see more tempo changeups. That's what I'm saying is going in, welling up, waiting for help and then taking

off again. It's just, you know, you're right, ultimately. It's not a bug. It's a feature. You don't want him not carrying the puck. But I think there was a mastering of tempo manipulation via like edging, starting and stopping, using the boards that he had that hasn't bloomed in this environment yet. Well, basically, it's the path we saw with Jack Hughes the past three years. I had the last thing I read on my notepad for the show is talk about Jack Hughes and is not because of his start to the season.

But like, you look at the evolution that he took and it pretty much it's exactly that. right like and now that like the final form of the jack who's evolution is like this monster that's 10 pounds bigger than he was the year prior after he learned all these other amazing things about controlling tempo and face to the game uh you toss that on as like a a winner i could see the same thing happening here right like and i don't think that like Connor badard will never in my opinion to be a player that uses size to generate offense but i think it's going to allow him to withstand certain styles of defensive presence a lot better in the future future and stand up against some of those tactics in a way that maybe he can't do now.

But yes, that's, I mean, this is an information gathering period for him, right? Like, that's what we're doing. We're building our database for learning tendencies, you know, understanding how goalies lean and how they react to where I put my hands and all of that stuff is ongoing, right? If you listen to Taylor Hall today, he would tell you that the number of intermission interviews Connor Burrard is doing is chewing into that information data bank. But yeah, I agree with you. That pathway, I think, is very much been forged on the Hughes side.

And you kind of lean towards maybe it going in a very similar fashion here. I'm not really worried about him having a lack of information gathering because if you watch some of those clips of like him on the bench, he's like, he's just like eyes wide open. And he's almost, I mentioned brain is a supercomputer. He's almost like he's like running the numbers in his head. And like, oh, the last sequence, that's what I just saw. Okay, register that in the bank. I'm going to come back to that later. And he's, yeah, I mean, everything, like, it might go without saying because it's like, yeah, young players get better,

and especially players of this caliber, like, as 18, 20, 22, he's going to look wildly different. But I do, he does strike me as one of these players that is going to, in a Sydney Crosby-like fashion, every off season go back into the lab and just add something for the next season that totally changes the equation for defenders against him, right? Because it just seems like, do you see that clip of the official being like, oh, like, you're going to have a great career or something? And he just like wants none of that. Like he's already just trying to like build on it as opposed to just being happy with being at

this point. And so, I mean, the sky's the limit certainly. But information gathering, I think for us, it is as well because I thought he'd be really good and really lethal on the power play right away. But I was like, especially on this team, we've seen young players struggle at five on five. I'm kind of curious to see what that's going to look like. And they're not necessarily dominating with him on the ice, but when he's out there, they've had so many extended shifts in the offensive zone where they're kind of layering chance after chance and rebounds

and kind of keeping the other team hemmed in. And then none of that when he's off the ice. And so he's already driving five on five results, which for an 18 year old playing his first three games, is something I wasn't necessarily expecting, even though I had sky high expectations for. Oh, you mentioned the deployment, right? I mean, look, he's got a 55% share of the expected goal line through the first three games and even strength. And it's not, and it's not that without him.

Right. Without him, I think it's like in the low 40s. Amen to that, you know. We got to acknowledge, you know, that first night, you know, he went against Sidney Crosby and I think down. Won the battle. I mean, the Crosby had that one shift, obviously, with the Crosby Gensel magic. on the give and go where they completely caught the Blackhawks out of position.

But for the most part, like, I wouldn't say like, oh, he was stifled in any way. No. And it's different because, you know, Crosby's responsibilities as his center don't always land him on Connor Baderd, right? But there were a bunch of times where I think Crosby was late to Bader. You know, I don't think, if you think about this from Ciddy's perspective, he's been in the league for a really long time. He kind of feels like you had a beat on everybody. And here comes this kid taking the most unorthodox path through the offensive zone that you've ever seen. Like, you know, that's, that's an adjustment for everybody.

So I thought that, you know, you're spot on. It's, I keep going back to this point, but he just, so much of the little stuff that he does elongates those shifts, right? And they're not complicated inside out toe drags. I mean, those are great. I love those. They're phenomenal. They're little area plays where you'll see him dive out, get a blade on it,

Demetri and just push it 10 feet to keep it away from a defenseman. You know, he's making these desperation leaps and these, you know, he gets knocked down to the ice. He sweeps his stick along the ice surface, right, as he's falling to keep the puck in the zone. You know, these little micro moments where he does, you know, something seemingly innocuous in the moment, but the play has stayed alive, you know, specifically because of that action and because of that thing that he did. So, you know, it's just, you know, we just saw that clip there on the screen of him in the breakout, just seamlessly moving the puck in directions to keep it open. I mean, it's just a beautiful thing. So, you know, that, you know, we talk about, I think,

I think, I don't want to go back to this well, Demetre, but there's so many different types of players you could put with him, right? Like the possibilities, granted, they all, we know they have to be able to think the game at a high level, but really strong smart finishers could play with him. Long-term, like, possession-style grinders that like to work on the wall could play with him. You know, set up people could play with him. I mean, I think anybody who can work off that motion and has that sort of sixth sense about them, you know, is a really great fit. But that's been, to me, you know, the most fun part of it to watch is that sort of in-zone work and those quick little touches and plays that he can make to keep plays alive and generate goals out of seemingly

or chances out of seemingly nowhere. Well, you mentioned that the Crosby wasn't on him that much in that matchup. There was that clip that I saw afterwards where he's on the bench talking to a teammate, I forget who, and he's sort of mentioning a play about how he's like, oh, you know how Crosby likes to get his stick horizontal on the ice? We think of Mark Stone doing that, right? Where he puts a stick down, knocks it down, gets the steel when you're trying to pass the puck along the ice against him.

He's like, oh, I forgot that Crosby likes to do that too. I feel lucky that I got a pass through to Seth Jones doing that. And it's like, man, just speaking of like student of the game or sort of like running the numbers and understanding what's going to happen, the fact that he had like that level of awareness, right? Got a Crosby tendencies out in already. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Although I'm sure he's studied. I mean, we hear all about how, you know, he used to watch Austin Matthews clips on YouTube of that dragon release shot, certainly. But I had no doubt that there was a ton of watching Crosby tape as well to kind of like see what he's doing and try to incorporate it as well as all the young great players are doing

these days. And so what else here? Like we've got a couple more minutes on Bardard. Is there anything else that's either caught your eye or kind of stuff you're watching for here? I mean, what do you talk about like running the gauntlet from an opponent slash stage perspective, right? Start the air in primetime against Crosby and the Penguins, back to back at Boston. then go to Montreal for Hockey Night and Canada for their home opener,

playing at Toronto, at Colorado, and then goes Vegas, Boston, Vegas again. So I'm curious to see, especially in those Vegas games, if the 5-on-5 performance can stay above that 50% mark. And if it does, then maybe we're going to have to do another full episode on this because he's going to have shown even more on tape. But, yeah, I mean, it's just going to be test after test, right? And it's been quite a start to the years.

I'm kind of curious to see what these next couple weeks look like for him and the Blackhawks. Me too. I'm looking forward, like I said, to that shot really getting a good run of a showcase. And, you know, his ability, Demetri, to keep, you know, it's not just that he can go inside out. It's not just that step over toe drag. We talked about all the time. It's just the ability to keep the puck on his stick in the most bizarre and compromised circumstances. is it's almost magic, you know, almost like he's got a magnet in the puck and one on a stick

that keep the two connected to each other at all times. You know, I guess not so much a comment, but just advice to people, is watch that the way that he uses sort of like Michigan goal style momentum in other areas that aren't the Michigan goal to manipulate the puck. You know, it's almost like he's taking the Michigan goal as a case study and how I can use momentum right to my advantage in situations like that. applied it to just everything he does, right? His release has elements of that in it. You know, his toe drag has elements of that in it. It just seems like it's become this intrinsic part of his

game. And this, I think, is the future of like the skill set we're seeing from like some of these future draft classes is a lot of this stuff, right, is a lot of YouTube montage, influence, behavior, which I think is great for hockey. I think it's great for us to be able to watch it. But that to me is the thing that I'm taking notes on the most because it just seems so uncansomely. Annie. And just the understanding of how you can kind of have to like use your wrist to be able to accomplish that. You almost get the sense he's rewired a lot of his core hockey tendencies to accommodate, you know, elements again of that goal and using puck-based momentum to create scoring opportunities for yourself. Yeah, then that the goal, his first career goal against the Bruins, that touch in the neutral zone to knock the puck down and then get it to a teammate just to enter the zone. own is uh is highlight worthy in and of itself right that's the pass i'm talking about though right

he takes his stick almost across his body with the puck and throws it behind himself from his weak side like that's that you know like that's a recipe for disaster for most guys you know they don't have the ability to like not give that away um but you know that that that's that's why it's so important to have your stick down around this guy right because they could just you can let it go at any moment. And if you're carrying this thing around at waist level, he's going to catch you with your pants down, so to speak. The scary, or what makes it so impossible is if I'm sure something's going to come out that works defensively, and then he will make the requisite adjustment, and then all of a sudden that will stop being as effective, right? And so that cat mouse game is

always exciting to watch. Jesse, who's going to be our next muse? We're going to try to do these like once every couple weeks, go into the lab, watch tape, and then pull stuff out. We did a lot of players last year, so we definitely don't want to double dip, at least not right away, just because there's so many exciting players in the league. I feel like we don't need to. I want to keep highlighting new players and exciting stuff. I was thinking, like, I know we did Clayton Keller last year. Maybe we need to do Clayton Keller and Logan Coley. Well, that's what I was going to say. I think maybe maybe we just need to do our coyotes, you know? Yeah. More and more people are, are saying it.

So, I mean, that team, we've only seen one game of theirs so far. And it was against the devil's way they were going to bring fun games out of a lot of teams. But they were exciting as heck. And Cooley's debut in particular was already showing a lot of the stuff that I think you and I kind of drool over. So maybe that's going to be a good one. Let the listeners know where they can check you out and plug a few things here now that we're back into the new season.

Yeah. So we'll be talking about the Penguins Power Play on the athletic coming up for worse or better. how the next couple games go and taking a look at the Eric Carlson presence and then I'm going to be on McKean's again this year doing whatever I want basically so I think we're going to start with a little trip out to Los Angeles

maybe taking a look at some players out there I love Kevin Fiala. Oh, that Dubois Fiala La Fereira Oh, so good. That's probably where I'm going to go to the well on first. So maybe that's one of our muses as well. I'm excited. Well, we were talking if, if Gennie Malcon keeps us

up his first three games. He didn't have the points in the opener against the Blackhawks, even though he had set up quite a few just fantastic chances. But then obviously went off games two and three. Looks re-enter. I mean, he was really good last year. Obviously, the team didn't have the season I wanted, but him and Crosby were phenomenal. But man, like this level of Malkin, I think is going to deserve its own deep dive, even though I think most people are already familiar with his tricks. Yeah. He said yesterday, Dimitri, I hope I wake up tomorrow on the season's over so I can win the heart trophy. Jesse, this was blast, man.

I'm glad we're back doing this. Hopefully the listeners enjoyed it and let us know. And you know, another thing I'm experimenting with this video and having the show on YouTube as well, we're also going to experiment with. I'm going to create a Discord page for the podcast. We'll put it in the show notes.

If you can't find it or you're curious or interested in it, feel free to DM me and message me reach out. I will send you an invite link and, you know, hopefully we can create a little community for, for hockey fans to talk about the game we love thoughtfully, but also it'll maybe give us a chance to kind of like stay a step ahead and people who listen to this and are interested in either talking to us about it or suggesting future players for us a deep dive can, can give us a shout there. So I think that'll be a good, good way for us to kind of crowdsource who we want to give the film club treatment to.

Would appreciate a shout for Will Carrier if you guys get in the Discord. Oh, my. There's a lot of new exciting players. We haven't done him yet. I think he's just going to have to be the player that we mentioned. We're going to be like, oh, apologies to Willa Carrier. We didn't get a chance to get to him on today's show. Hopefully, I'm on the film club.

Yes. Otherwise for me, no real plugs. Just leave us a five-star rating. Give a review for the show. And once again, thank you for listening to us. And we'll be back with plenty more of the HockeyPedio guests, as always streaming on the Sportsnet Radio. network.