2023 NHL Draft: Conor Bedard watch

Connor Bedard, the projected No. 1 pick in the 2023 Upper Deck NHL Draft, is in his third season with Regina of the Western Hockey League. The 17-year-old center, No. 1 on NHL Central Scouting's midterm ranking of North American skaters presented by BioSteel, was granted exceptional status to play in the WHL as a 15-year-old. Each Wednesday, NHL.com will have an update on Bedard leading up to the NHL Draft, which will be held in Nashville on June 28-29.

Connor Bedard's remarkable season will extend into the WHL playoffs. Regina clinched a berth with a 4-2 win against Saskatoon on Sunday.
It will be Bedard's first trip to the playoffs in three seasons with Regina, which will play in the postseason for the first time since 2018.
Bedard had a goal and an assist in the win against Saskatoon, and had 39 points (19 goals, 20 assists) as Regina went 9-4-1 in its past 14 games to earn a playoff spot.
He has 142 points (70 goals, 72 assists) with two regular-season games remaining, the most in the WHL since Frank Banham had 152 points (83 goals, 69 assists) for Saskatoon in 1995-96.

As easy Bedard has made it look piling up points this season, it's likely he won't find it as easy in the playoffs.
"Whoever they play, they're going to challenge everybody else around Bedard to beat them," Sportsnet scouting analyst Jason Bukala said. "They're not going to allow him to just be skating freely through the neutral zone or hanging around on the half wall looking to make plays. They're going to take away all his time and space. And if it means they've got to double down on him, they're going to do that. So it's going to be a real aggressive type of defending that he runs into here."
How Bedard handles that uptick in competition can be informative for NHL teams.
"In this series here, I would be watching for how he responds under duress, because he'll be blanketed, they'll be in his face the entire time, and how much of a distraction that that provides," Bukala said. "The reason I'm doing that, I already know he's great. I already know all the great things about him. Once he gets to the NHL next year, you're going to be on a team that's a rebuilding team ... he's going to be under duress every shift. I'm going to be watching in a series like this, how he handles that second layer of pushback, that playoff pushback, and if it distracts him to a point that it takes away from his element, or if he retaliates and puts his team in a situation where they've got to kill off a penalty."
Regina likely will finish as the No. 6 seed in the Eastern Conference and play Saskatoon, the No. 3 seed, in the first round. Bedard had nine points (four goals, five assists) playing four of Regina's five games against Saskatoon (they play one final time Friday). Regina won two of the first five games.
Here's a look at his season:
Games played: 55
Goals-assists-points: 70 (1st) - 72 (1st) - 142 (1st)
Points per game: 2.58 (1st)
Game-winning goals: 11 (tied for 1st)
Power-play points: 45 (1st)
Short-handed goals: 5 (tied for 3rd)
Shots: 350 (1st)
Plus/minus rating: +42
Penalty minutes: 62
Face-off winning percentage: 53.8 (669-for-1,244)
Upcoming games: March 24: at Saskatoon; March 25: vs. Prince Albert
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