Puck Prose
Fansided

What to expect if your team wins the Connor Bedard sweepstakes

By Vincent Parise

LANGLEY, BRITISH COLUMBIA - JANUARY 24: Forward Connor Bedard #98 of the Regina Pats skates for Team Red during the 2023 Kubota CHL Top Prospects Game Practice at the Langley Events Centre on January 24, 2023 in Langley, British Columbia. (Photo by Dennis Pajot/Getty Images)
LANGLEY, BRITISH COLUMBIA - JANUARY 24: Forward Connor Bedard #98 of the Regina Pats skates for Team Red during the 2023 Kubota CHL Top Prospects Game Practice at the Langley Events Centre on January 24, 2023 in Langley, British Columbia. (Photo by Dennis Pajot/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
Connor Bedard, NHL
(Photo by Dennis Pajot/Getty Images) /

These teams all have low odds to win the Connor Bedard sweepstakes.

The Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Buffalo Sabres, and Ottawa Senators are the four teams that missed the playoffs that don’t have any chance to win the first overall pick. They can win the lottery but they would only move up ten spots which is short of the first selection.

The rest of the non-playoff teams, however, all have a chance at the top prize. This is what to expect if your team is one of them and they get Bedard:

Vancouver Canucks – 3%

The Vancouver Canucks had a very up-and-down season but they did have Elias Petterson who had 102 points which was good for 10th in the NHL. Watching him play with Connor Bedard would be absolute hockey magic.

Add in guys like Quinn Hughes, JT Miller, and Andrei Kuzmenko amongst others and other could be some really nice plays made there. They might even take a step toward being a playoff team with another year of Rick Tocchet as the head coach.

St. Louis Blues – 3.5%

The St. Louis Blues sold a lot in 2022-23 and were still a good team. They sent Ryan O’Reilly and Vladimir Tarasenko away but managed to stay in the race for most of the season after a bad start. If they won the lottery, they would center the retool around him.

A power play that includes the likes of Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou with Bedard would be so much fun to watch. All of these guys are super skilled and some of the players surrounding Bedard in this situation are playoff tested so he’d be in a great spot.

Detroit Red Wings – 5%

The Detroit Red Wings are so close. Everything you see with the New Jersey Devils going from a bad team to a Stanley Cup contender in one year could happen if Connor Bedard joined that team.

They have built a very nice young core and it is only going to get better. If you threw in Bedard, you’d see him skate with superstars like Dylan Larkin and Lucas Raymond which would just be so much fun.

Washington Capitals – 6%

What would you expect if the Washington Capitals landed Connor Bedard? Well, he’d sure help Alexander Ovechkin chase Wayne Gretzky’s all-time goals record. He is going to break that over the next two years and it would be way easier if Bedard joined him.

Bedard would also help Washington take it farther than that. He would make them start thinking of the playoffs again as well which is fun to think about. Their high-end skill is still there and Bedard would only bring it out more.

Home/Anaheim Ducks