His play has been compared to several NHL stars, past and present, but on the latest episode of the "NHL Draft Class" podcast, Sportsnet scouting analyst Jason Bukala compared Bedard's dominance at the World Juniors to an elite athlete from a different sport.
"What we all saw ... was exceptional," Bukala said. "There was nobody even close to him. It was like Tiger Woods running away with The Masters back in the day. It wasn't even close. This guy, every time he rolled over the boards, every time he touched the puck, something electric was going to happen."
Woods won The Masters by a record 12 strokes in 1997. Bedard's 23 points (nine goals, 14 assists) led the WJC, were the most ever by a Canada player and were the fourth-most by any player in a single World Juniors.
Bukala, a former director of amateur scouting for the Florida Panthers, touched on a number of other topics coming out of World Juniors, including whether Bedard would be best suited to play wing or center in the NHL. He also gave his opinion on the play of several other top 2023 draft prospects who excelled at the WJC, including Sweden forward Leo Carlsson and defenseman Axel Sandin Pellikka, Czechia forward Eduard Sale, and Austria defensemen David Reinbacher.
Co-hosts Adam Kimelman and Mike G. Morreale also shared their thoughts on Canada's WJC victory, and looked ahead to a busy January that includes the 2023 BioSteel All-American Game, the 2023 CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game and the release of NHL Central Scouting's midterm rankings.
The podcast is free, and listeners can subscribe on all podcast platforms, including iTunes, Spotify and Google Podcasts. It also is available on NHL.com/multimedia/podcasts and the NHL app.
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Listen: New episode of NHL Draft Class
