I Just Traded Connor Bedard for Macklin Celebrini...

Yup, I knew that headline would probably get you to click. Let me go into full detail before the Internet prospect community comes for my skull, because if my fantasy league is anything like the Internet, there are going to be some upset individuals. The trade was a 2nd rounder and Bedard for Celebrini and David Reinbacher. The league is a dynasty league with specific scoring categories, it’s a points league, but faceoffs lost are minus points. At the time of the trade, Bedard had lost 75 more faceoffs than he won. I am also in a position to compete now and Celebrini has a higher per game fantasy pace. Lastly, there are minor eligibility rules where players can be held in the minors with a minors tag if they are under a certain amount of games played (Bedard would graduate earlier than Celebrini).

My analysis from watching Bedard this year: he really is hanging in the outskirts of the play and has found himself not in the dirty zones. Bedard, either by confidence or just buying space, has proceeded to pass way more than shoot. He’s deferring to Ryan Donato to shoot! There was a thought with me that Bedard could lose value and this was a sell-high move by me. Of course, I could be very wrong and lose this over the course of a few years, but Macklin Celebrini has really impressed me. Bedard set the prospect community ablaze, drawing comparisons to Connor McDavid, and there is a large number of Bedard truthers who haven’t watched any of his games and just go off his pre-NHL career. Bedard is no McDavid. McDavid has a higher top speed, higher acceleration, and can really stick handle at top speed unlike any player ever in the NHL (apart from maybe MacKinnon). McDavid also really gets in the gritty areas and has a relentlessness to his game. Bedard, to me, has a better shot than McDavid, but he rarely finds himself getting to the area in order to take the shot, or as already mentioned, on the rush will look to pass instead of shoot. He doesn’t have insane top-end speed, but is elite at edgework to create space, which is very important at the NHL level. Bedard isn’t exactly playing with world beaters, and head coach Luke Richardson has a more stiff defensive scheme which helps defense but stymies offensive upside. These two factors are also affecting Bedard’s point total and fantasy relevance, both of which will change.

All of that being said, the guy is still almost a PPG on a dismal team. And I think the reason I pulled the trigger was more so what I saw from Macklin than what I didn’t see from Bedard. Macklin is currently the youngest player in the NHL and is looking better than expected. I am a big NCAA guy and what he did as a 17-year-old in the NCAA is nothing to scoff at, being compared by his age and his stats to Paul Kariya and Jack Eichel. His shot was something I questioned in the NCAA; he had a very deceptive wrister, but it’s hard to gauge when shooting on NCAA goalies versus what that might look like in the NHL. Here is a clip of Celebrini at full speed, absolutely sniping the top right of the goal using a defender as a screen and using his eyes to look off the goalie: https://youtube.com/shorts/jM_HK80hy_8?si=HLW-H4DcA_gQLeqw

He is very good at shooting off the rush and looking off goalies for a pass while shooting. His skating and stickhandling at top speed are elite at such a young age, and his edgework, while not being elite, is still above average for the NHL. He is also very good on defense, often being in the right spot at the right time, always backchecking, and not being scared to throw the body to separate players from the puck. He can turn defense into offense on the rush and can create his own offense. Celebrini has also been very good on the power play, normally on the bumper. It’s more his great shot and the scheme the team runs than him being a power play driver, but if his 5-on-5 play is any indication, he will be a great power play player as well.

What are your thoughts?