On Tuesday, The Athletic released the results of . There are some fun questions involved (which player would you want to have dinner with?), but most involve predicting the playoffs, players’ futures and teams’ hopes.
One question was specifically about Connor Bedard. “Connor Bedard is 24 years old, in his prime. He is playing at the following level:” The poll results were interesting, especially considering the options they provided.
Based on the hype around Bedard coming into his rookie season, the fact that the overwhelming majority of fans believe he’ll be a top-10 overall player in the league in six years isn’t a shock. The fact that almost 15 percent of fans think he’ll be in the MVP mix by then is interesting, and I would have probably guessed more fans would have had him as a top-3 overall player than top-10, though conservative voting makes sense.
They also asked fans to “Pick one NHL team that you’re most confident will win a Stanley Cup at any point before 2030.” The Blackhawks finished ninth overall, getting 2.9 percent of the votes. Carolina, New Jersey and Edmonton finished in the top three.
The follow-up question to that was “Pick three NHL teams that look the most hopeless in terms of becoming a Cup contender at any point before 2030.” The Blackhawks received the second-least votes (a good sign) in that; St. Louis was last. Chicago was named by 5.2 percent of the voters. Arizona was in the worst spot in the eyes of the voters, being named on 61.4 percent of the ballots.
A few other intriguing questions and answers:
