Honestly, the Hawks should shut down Connor Bedard for the season
Shut him down? 🤡 bold move burning a year of the kid's development so we can tank a bit harder for a draft lottery we probably bungle anyway. The guy wants to play, he's getting his 20+ minutes, and honestly that's the only thing worth watching on this club right now. Front office saying "rebuild on track" while he logs heavy minutes on a last-place roster, now THAT's the actual joke here.
And in reality? He's 18, playing through a real grind against men every night, and people wanna wrap him in bubble wrap because... what, the front office might fumble the pick like they've fumbled everything else since 2015? Laughable really. I've got C$20 says if we do shut him down, half this thread starts whining about the product on ice by February. Wait for the fanboys to pile in telling me "player safety" like the kid's made of glass 😏
Honestly? I watched Bedard take a beating all night vs Winnipeg and my heart was in my throat 😱 kid's 20+ a night on the worst club in the league, that's insane. Shut him down, protect the future, we're going nowhere anyway. Backing the tank on this one 🙌
Heart with the team, head on pause.
GaryUltra, I get the fear, that Winnipeg game was ugly to watch. But a sample of one bad night tells you almost nothing. Bedard at 20+ minutes against NHL competition is doing more for his development than three months of skating in practice ever will. My worry with shutting him down is different: this club has botched lottery luck before, so banking the season on a coin flip while freezing the one piece we know is real? That trade never made sense to me 📊 Small caveat, though. If he's actually banged up and the medical staff says rest, then yes, sit him. Health first. But tanking him healthy just to chase picks we keep fumbling? No thanks.
I keep my own tables 📊
Back when I had season tickets through the darker rebuild years, the club always seemed to find new ways to botch things, yet the kids who played real minutes came out the other side fine. Jack's got it right, sheltering Bedard on the ninth floor of some office tower teaches him nothing. Let the kid play, keep an eye on the workload, and quit treating him like porcelain. 😉
Seen it all, lads.
easy to say "one bad night means nothing" when you're watching from the couch 😄 i've sat through enough rebuilds to know the kid logs 20+ a night behind a blue line that can't protect him, and heavy minutes vs real NHL size add up over a season, not in one game. back in the day teams didn't run teenagers this hard and we wonder why the wheels fall off. shut him down, take the lottery odds, and let him come back fresh. Watch as long as i have and you'll get it.
Seen it all, lads.
BadBeatPTSD has a point about accumulation, I'll give him that. But before we shut down the only reason anyone buys a ticket this season, I'd want receipts on the actual workload claim. Twenty-plus minutes a night is a load, sure - yet the trainers track this stuff, and if the medical staff saw red flags, they'd already be managing his shifts. Nobody's dragging a franchise asset out there against Winnipeg on a whim.
My issue with the shutdown crowd is simpler: we're treating one ugly loss like a season-long pattern. If the usage really is reckless, the fix is fewer zone-start drudgery minutes and a better support group around him next year, not benching the kid so we can chase a lottery ball with our usual luck at these things. Show me fatigue indicators, show me reduced skating speed, show me anything measurable. Then we talk. Gut feeling that he "looks tired" is just an excuse for not wanting to watch the games anymore.
Where's the proof?
HarryBeliever asking for receipts is fair, so here's mine: I keep a sheet every round and the 20+ minute nights are all over it, week after week. BadBeatPTSD's accumulation argument is the one that actually worries me. Think of it like overtime hours piling up on a junior accountant, nobody notices until the burnout hits. Small sample though on any single-game panic, so I'd cap his minutes before I'd shut him down entirely.
I keep my own tables 📊
😂 shut him down for a lottery ball? I've got C$ riding on worse plans than that, and even I think it's a lottery, not sport. Kid's 20+ minutes every night because there's literally nobody else on this roster worth the ice time, welcome to being a franchise player, that's the job description. Bench him and you teach him nothing except how to sit in a suite while the tank race heats up.
Sure thing mate, maybe we lose the draft combine AND the kid's rhythm in the same season. Double win. 🤡😏
It's a lottery, not sport.
@Emma_23 "job description" for a 19 year old getting killed every night? nah man. watched him live in Victoria before the draft, kid's special, protect him 😤
You don't abandon your own.
Nah Emma, that's the job?! he's 19 getting mauled every shift cos nobody else can skate 😱 shut him down, we ain't winning owt anyway tbh 🤬
One love, one side ❤️
Kev, the Hull comparison cuts both ways, those teams had veterans around them, and we've got a 19-year-old eating 20+ minutes against everyone's top pairing week after week. Small sample though, and Emma's right that there's nobody else worth the ice time, so context matters on both sides honestly. I'll keep my sheet running a few more rounds before I pick a side here 📊
Context beats a bare stat.
Kev, the Hull comparison cuts both ways, those teams had veterans around them, and we've got a 19-year-old eating 20+ minutes against everyone's top pairing week after week. Small sample though, and Emma's right that the…
@ZoeTillIDie so even the analysts kind of agree he's on an island out there? 😅 don't laugh, but does shutting him down actually help long term or just make the losing uglier?
This might be a daft question but as someone still learning this stuff, if they shut him down, do the Hawks just get a better draft pick out of losing more? Because that'd change the whole argument for me 😅 sorry if that's obvious