Thought this clip was worthy of it’s own post outside the Scrimmage Recap post in part because of the Bedard circlejerk that I am required by law to keep pumping, and also I found this [follow up from Jack Han](https://twitter.com/JhanHky/status/1706703315629756816) interesting:
>*”Hard to see on the frame, but Bedard slides the puck under the Ds stick and uses that free split-second to fend off the contact, recovering the puck on the other side.*
>*An underrated thing to practice is tapping the puck for yourself to skate onto, both forehand & backhand.*
>*A separating factor between top6 & bottom6 NHLers is that the top players know when/how to do things slower & more softly. Being able to weigh a self-pass or or an area pass correctly creates opening vs the best defenders in the world.*
>*Players who get earmarked as grinders/checkers/effort guys early in their careers tend to lose this attribute, at least until they get sent to AHL or sign in Europe and (sometimes) rediscover the nuances of the game.*
Connor Bedard's ability to play off contact is part of what makes him unique. He puts the puck past Nolan Allan, fends him off, skated back to the puck back and passes it to Donato for the goal. pic.twitter.com/HrH6dEVVzt
— Scott Powers (@ByScottPowers) September 26, 2023
by JD397
2 Comments
Can someone clarify the last tweet where he talks about grinders/checkers/effort guys, for me.
Not to get too ahead of myself since this is a fucking scrimmage, but this is a circlejerk post so I’m gonna say it anyways: this kind of ability to challenge a defender head on and muscle through their check while retaining puck possession one-handed gives me shades of McDavid’s insane goal from his rookie season:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-9ru_R7Qjjo
It’s not exactly alike, but just that combination of skating, awareness, strength, and puck skills is wild to me. Very excited to see how well Bedard can pull off moves like this in actual NHL games!