 Another generational talent enters the limelight tonight | | | Six days after French basketball phenom Victor Wembanyama officially joined the NBA as the No. 1 overall draft pick by the San Antonio Spurs, his hockey equivalent is about to enjoy a similar coronation. Connor Bedard, the 17-year-old Canadian forward widely considered the best NHL prospect since Connor McDavid entered the league eight years ago, will be selected first by Chicago in tonight's draft in Nashville.
Like McDavid, Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux and Wayne Gretzky before him, Bedard was touted as a generational talent long before his draft year. In 2020, the North Vancouver native received "exceptional" status from the junior Western Hockey League, allowing him to join the Regina Pats a year early, as a 15-year-old. The COVID pandemic cut his rookie season short, but Bedard still scored 12 goals in 15 games before becoming the youngest 50-goal scorer in WHL history the next year. He exploded for 71 goals in 57 games this past season, plus another 10 in a seven-game playoff defeat.
Canadians started hearing more about Bedard leading up to the ill-fated world junior championship that began in late December 2021 in Edmonton. Before the tournament was abandoned due to COVID outbreaks, Bedard became the youngest player ever to score four goals in a single game. After organizers rebooted the event that summer, he scored four more times in seven games to help Canada win the gold medal.
Bedard's profile skyrocketed at this year's world juniors in Halifax, where he put together one of the most dazzling performances in the event's history. As the youngest player on the Canadian team, Bedard racked up nine goals in seven games (including his jaw-dropping OT winner in the quarter-finals vs. Slovakia ) and finished with 23 points — a Canadian record for a single world juniors and the most by anyone in 30 years. More than that, Bedard elevated every Canadian game to must-see TV as he helped his team to another gold.
Though he's on the small side (generously listed at 5-foot-10 and 185 pounds), Bedard has erased concerns about his size at every level with his deceptive strength, incredible vision and magnificent range of abilities with the puck. His shot is already the envy of some of the best players in the world. "It's remarkable to see," McDavid marvelled to ESPN's Emily Kaplan. "He shoots it so hard and with such a quick release." Nathan MacKinnon called that release "one of the best in the world [right] now."
Chicago, which finished third-last in the overall standings this season, hit the jackpot in last month's draft lottery. The timing could not be better for the Original Six club, which just said goodbye this season to former MVP Patrick Kane and longtime captain Jonathan Toews, the duo that led the team to three Stanley Cups in the 2010s. Now Chicago gets to transition right into the Bedard era.
After Bedard, the top prospects in the draft are a quartet of forwards from different countries: Canada's Adam Fantilli, who won the Hobey Baker Award as the top player in U.S. collegiate hockey this season; Sweden's Leo Carlsson; Russia's Matvei Michkov; and American Will Smith.
Montreal, at No. 5, has the highest choice among Canadian teams. Vancouver picks 11th, Calgary 16th, Winnipeg 18th and Toronto 28th. Ottawa and Edmonton do not currently have first-round picks after trading them away.
Speaking of trades, the draft has a way of triggering some big ones. Last night, Winnipeg moved restless forward Pierre-Luc Dubois to Los Angeles for three players and a draft pick in a sign-and-trade deal that saw the pending restricted free agent get a new eight-year, $68-million US contract. Also, Calgary sent leading scorer Tyler Toffoli to New Jersey for young forward Yegor Sharangovich and a third-round pick. Earlier this week, Boston traded former MVP Taylor Hall to Chicago, where he's expected to play on a line with Bedard.
The biggest name remaining on the trade block is San Jose's Erik Karlsson, who won his third Norris Trophy on Monday after becoming the first defenceman in 31 years to record 100 points in a season. Karlsson, 33, has asked the lowly Sharks to send him to a contender.
The first round of the draft goes tonight, starting at 7 p.m. ET, followed by rounds 2 through 7 on Thursday. | | |  | Connor Bedard is ready for his welcome to the NHL at tonight's draft in Nashville. (Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) | | | Quickly… | | | Some other things to know:
1. The Canadian men's soccer team suffered a humbling setback.
As noted in yesterday's newsletter, Canada is not exactly putting its best foot forward for this year's CONCACAF Gold Cup. Standout players Alphonso Davies, Jonathan David, Cyle Larin, Tajon Buchanan, Stephen Eustaquio, Alistair Johnston and Ismael Kone are all skipping the continental championship, which comes on the heels of the European club season and last December's World Cup. In their absence, coach John Herdman is viewing the Gold Cup as a chance to give some of his "young lads" a dose of international experience as the team builds toward the 2026 World Cup.
Despite those caveats, few expected Canada would not win its Gold Cup opener last night in Toronto vs. Guadeloupe, a tiny set of islands belonging to France with a population of around 400,000. But that's exactly what happened when Canada surrendered an own goal in stoppage time for a shocking 2-2 draw against the unranked Caribbean visitors.
The Canadian men, ranked 47th in the world, will now travel to Houston to complete their group-stage slate vs. No. 116 Guatemala on Saturday and No. 165 Cuba on Tuesday. The top two teams in the group advance to the knockout stage, which will also take place in the United States.
Meanwhile, Canada Soccer is awaiting a response from its men's and women's national teams after presenting a "best and final" offer for a labour deal with the players, said newly installed top executive Jason deVos. The offer comes just weeks before the start of the Women's World Cup on July 20, and coincides with deVos telling TSN his organization is so close to broke that it might not be able to afford matches for its senior national teams this fall.
As the financial chaos bleeds onto the field, CBC Sports contributor Chris Jones writes that Canada must decide how much it's willing to pay for soccer success, while Shireen Ahmed writes that the level of women's soccer funding around the world remains shameful.
2. Nick Nurse quit the Canadian men's basketball team.
Despite Canada Basketball saying in April that Nurse would remain with the program after being fired by the Toronto Raptors, the 55-year-old American announced his "difficult decision" to step down so he can focus on his new job as head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Canada Basketball moved on quickly, naming Sacramento Kings associate head coach Jordi Fernandez as Nurse's replacement. The 40-year-old Spaniard joins the Canadian men's team's quest to qualify for its first Olympics since 2000 — a task it can accomplish at the Basketball World Cup later this summer.
NBA stars Jamal Murray and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander headline the 14 Canadian players who committed to a three-year cycle that includes the World Cup and ends with next summer's Paris Olympics. It's unclear whether the coaching change could affect those commitments — or, on the flip side, whether Nurse's departure might entice any holdouts (most notably Andrew Wiggins) to sign on. Read more about Fernandez and what's next for the Canadian men's team here.
3. Simone Biles is back.
The greatest gymnast in history announced she plans to return to competition at an event outside Chicago in August. It will be Biles' first meet since the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, where the four-time Olympic gold medallist and 19-time world champion made headlines by bowing out from several events after experiencing "the twisties" — a dangerous mental block where gymnasts become disoriented while performing moves up in the air.
Biles missed the individual all-around final and watched her American teammates scramble for silver in the team event before returning on the final day to salvage a bronze in the balance beam for her seventh Olympic medal. She missed the world championships in the fall of 2021 and last year, but is thought to be considering the Olympics in Paris next summer. Read more about Biles' return here. | | | And finally… | | | Shohei Ohtani is an international treasure.
The marvellous Japanese pitcher/hitter for the Los Angeles Angels showed again last night why he's the best two-way baseball player since Babe Ruth — and maybe ever. Facing the Chicago White Sox at home, Ohtani became just the sixth player in modern history to club two home runs and strike out 10 batters in the same game. He also walked and singled between his two homers and allowed just one run and four hits over 6⅓ innings to earn the win in the Angels' 4-2 victory.
Ohtani's pitching record this season is now 7-3, opponents are hitting a majors-low .180 against him and he's racked up the third-most strikeouts in baseball. Meanwhile, he leads all big-league hitters in home runs (28), RBIs (64) and on-base-plus-slugging percentage (1.039). Ohtani's second American League MVP in three years is his to lose.
On the other end of the pitching spectrum, Toronto Blue Jays starter Alek Manoah had a brutal time in his first outing since being sent all the way down to the rookie-level Florida Complex League to work out his struggles. The 2022 AL Cy Young finalist allowed 11 runs while recording just eight outs against a Yankees affiliate made up mostly of teenagers. Read more about Manoah's tough day here. | | | Share this newsletter | | or subscribe if this was
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