Opinion | 13 Musings: Connor Bedard needs a nickname, and the NHL doesn’t need play-ins

HALIFAX—The Great One. Super Mario. The Big E. Sid the Kid. McJeesus.

Connor Bedard is in need of a terrific nickname. I’d like to call him Sam, because now he’s The Record Man. But that’s a Toronto joke and you have to be a certain age to get it.

It has been nothing short of stunning to watch him rewrite the Canadian world junior record book: Two four-goal games. A seven-point game. Most goals. Most points. Pretty soon most assists. Most points by an under-18 player.

He’s leaving the guys with the great nicknames in his (world junior) dust.

It’s to the point where you expect a great play every time the puck is on his stick. He rarely disappoints.

He’s got two games left to add to his totals and maybe catch some overall records, such as Peter Forsberg’s 42 career points, and 31 in a single event.

Bedard has eight goals and 13 assists (21 points) so far in this tournament; 16 goals and 18 assists (34 points) in three events.

If you have a question, or a Bedard nickname suggestion, email me at askkevinmcgran@gmail.com and I’ll answer it in the next Mailbag. It’s pretty empty right now, so pile on.

Now to the 13 Musings.

1. If the Maple Leafs would pay $100,000 (U.S.) for their 22nd win in regular-season game No. 35, how much of a fine would they pay to win a Game 7?

2. If they catch Boston, it will probably have been worth it.

3. There are stories swirling that the NHL is going to expand to 84 games, creating a more balanced schedule: four games against the seven teams in your division (28), three against the eight in the other division within your conference (24) and two against each of the 16 teams in the other conference (32). It could also mean the salary cap will rise by a significant amount significantly sooner than expected.

4. The players should oppose this. If they keep a flattish cap next year, they’ll reap a bigger windfall by the end of the season because their pandemic debts will be paid (they’re just short of paying it off now) and instead of losing money through escrow, they’ll gain it back.

5. Teams are for it, for cap relief if nothing else. And pending free agents would be for it, since they’d benefit the most. But those already under contract should be opposed.

6. I also see there’s a movement to get the NHL to go to NBA-style play-ins, whereby the teams that just miss the playoffs get a chance to play for wild cards.

7. In this instance, I totally agree with commissioner Gary Bettman that this is a bad idea, or a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist. Bettman (rightly) points out that the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs is the best in any sport. Why mess with it?

8. I like the Michigan move. It’s part of the hockey parlance now, part of the culture. A product of the rising level of talent the game is producing.

9. I am starting to think that Wes McCauley should not officiate games involving the Maple Leafs, at least as long as Sheldon Keefe is the coach. McCauley’s brother-in-law is former agent David Frost, with whom Keefe had a fairly large falling out. McCauley may not make calls based on family history, but even the mere appearance that he might should spook the league.

10. The world junior record book is a weird animal, since times are different and formats changed over the years. Bedard’s record may be pooh-poohed elsewhere because it includes the two games he played in December last year, when the tournament was cancelled after a couple of days because of a COVID outbreak.

11. Forsberg got 10 points against Japan, if anyone’s interested in asterisks. Hey, different times, different rules. And what was Japan doing at the event?

12. I’ve covered a slew of world juniors, going back to 2009 in Ottawa. My favourite was 2016 in Helsinki. Kasperi Kapanen’s golden goal. William Nylander injured and the Swedes rolling out doctors to tell us they had nothing to say. Ron Wilson was the U.S. coach, telling me the reason Canada couldn’t win was TSN’s intense coverage. Auston Matthews was there. Mitch Marner. So many storylines for a guy who mainly covers the Leafs.

13. This one is competing with it, and there’s really only one storyline: Bedard.

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