Connor Bedard must follow Kirill Kaprizov’s advice!

On Wednesday in his latest 32 Thoughts column on Sportsnet, Elliotte Friedman retold the story of how Chicago Blackhawks rookie superstar Connor Bedard compares himself to Minnesota Wild star Kirill Kaprizov. When asked about it by Colby Armstrong ahead of the 2023 NHL Draft this summer, Bedard saw many similarities between his game and Kaprizov’s reputation as a playmaker and scorer, on top of being a talented skater.

“I watch a lot of hockey and try to pick apart guys’ games and learn from that,” Bedard replied. “Someone I’ve said is ( Kirill Kaprizov ). If I was to pick one, it would probably be him. But it’s a little hard to pick one guy.”

Friedman reminds us how flattered Kaprizov was at the comparison and did explained to Sportsnet he understood why the kid would make that assessment.

“The way (Bedard) opens his hips on breakouts and uses his hips when he shoots,” Kaprizov said.

But then, he shares some active to Bedard:

“Play your game. There are going to be mistakes…turnovers. Play your game.”

We’ve started to see it in Chicago: Bedard can’t do everything by himself. The Blackhawks are 2-5-0 and sit last in the Central division, but the rookie ranked second in individual expected goals, tied for fifth in shots, tied for third in rush attempts and tied for first with Toronto Maple Leafs’ Auston Matthews in scoring chances at 5-on-5 according to Natural Stat Trick, after Tuesday night’s action.

Bedard often gets compared to Pittsburgh Penguins’ Sidney Crosby or Edmonton Oilers’ Connor McDavid, and as he mentioned it, the first overall pick has built his game around what he saw different players do on the ice. We can clearly see the similarities between Bedard and Kaprizov and that just bodes well for the Blackhawks’ star and his team.

It’s great to see the comparison with their offensive package and skating and while 18-year-old Bedard is only seven games into his NHL career, he has two goals, two assists and a -4 rating, while Kaprizov also shows two goals in six games, but has a total of nine points and a -2 rating.

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