The 10 most hyped prospects in NHL history

Credit: Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby (© Perry Nelson-USA TODAY Sports)

In less than three weeks, we’ll watch Connor Bedard slip on a Chicago Blackhawks jersey and begin a new chapter in one of hockey’s most celebrated prospect careers. How high has Bedard graded on the unofficial buzz-o-meter? He’s been a name known in hockey circles since he was 13 and earning comparisons to Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby. Bedard, who is believed to possess the raw point-accumulating ability of McDavid mixed with the shot of Auston Matthews, has been billed as a generational talent literally for years leading up to being drafted.

Thus far, Bedard has done nothing to dissuade the hype, either. He’s been every bit as good as advertised, every step of the way. The higher his level of competition, the more he seems to impress, such as when he blew the doors off the 2023 World Junior Championship with 23 points in seven games.

Bedard has come of age at the peak of social media, be it Twitter or TikTok or Instagram. There’s a case to be made he’s the most hyped prospect of all-time. At the very least, he’s high on the list.

Which NHL players created the most buzz of any others in the leadup to their draft years? Here’s a subjective list to consider, ranked not by how well they met expectations, but by how gargantuan the expectations were.

HONORABLE MENTIONS

These mega-prospects were billed as franchise-altering superstars but weren’t quite in the “guaranteed hockey God” tier:

Jean Beliveau, 1950: Coveted so badly that the Habs bought his junior league and converted it to a minor-pro league so they could sign him.

Rasmus Dahlin, 2018: Was being called the next Nicklas Lidstrom.

Rick DiPietro, 2000: Mike Milbury was so sure of DiPietro’s greatness that he traded Roberto Luongo to make room on the depth chart.

Jack Hughes, 2019: Compared to Patrick Kane and considered a slam-dunk superstar.

Patrick Kane, 2007: Changed the perception of little guys as elite talents.

Vincent Lecavalier, 1998: “The Michael Jordan of hockey.”

Nathan MacKinnon, 2013: Carried the Cole Harbour torch from hometown mentor and friend Crosby,

Auston Matthews, 2016: If not for McDavid being drafted the year prior, Matthews’ generational talent buzz would’ve been even louder.

John Tavares, 2009: The first player to earn exceptional status and compete as a 14-year-old in major junior.

Joe Thornton, 1997: His rookie season felt so nightmarish only because he was expected to be so good, so quickly.

Doug Wickenheiser, 1980: The Habs were so sure about Wickenheiser, a tremendous all-around athlete and physical specimen, that they passed on Francophone wunderkind Denis Savard with the first overall pick. Oops.

THE TOP 10

10. Alexandre Daigle, 1993

The buzz over Daigle as a can’t-miss superstar was so powerful that The Hockey News quipped, “While Yankee Stadium was the house that Babe Ruth built, Ottawa’s Palladium will be the house Alexandre Daigle built.” The Senators reportedly turned down an offer for the 1993 Draft’s first overall pick from the Quebec Nordiques including Peter Forsberg, Owen Nolan, draft picks and more. Ouch. Daigle sometimes earns the label of ‘Biggest Bust in NHL history,’ but he at least played more than 600 games. It’s more accurate to call him the biggest bust relative to hype. He never eclipsed 26 goals or 51 points in a season.

9. Alex Ovechkin, 2004

Ovechkin was destined for greatness seemingly from birth, the child of two elite athletes, most notably his mother who was an two-time Olympic gold medallist in basketball. His sublime goal-scoring ability put him on the prospect radar years before he was drafted; he was projected to be the 2004 Draft’s top pick by the time he was about 16 years old. Teams salivated over his potential to the point the Atlanta Thrashers attempted to bend the rules and draft him in 2003, claiming he was old enough when leap year days were factored out. The scouts were right: he was a goal-scoring demon from the moment he arrived in the NHL. Because he had to marinate an extra year during the 2004-05 lockout, he was more man than boy as a rookie in 2005-06.

8. Guy Lafleur, 1971

After Beliveau flourished as a hyped Quebec prodigy, a kid who idolized him destroyed the junior ranks to the point Habs GM Sam Pollock was salivating a year in advance. He made a trade with the expansion California Golden Seals before the 1970 Draft to set up Montreal to land the coveted No. 1 pick for 1971, and the move looked brilliant when Lafleur went nuclear for 130 goals and 209 points in 62 games with the Quebec Remparts in his draft year. It took him a few years to find his footing as an NHL icon, but he eventually became one of the greatest scorers of all-time.

7. Bobby Orr, 1966

Imagine being 13 years old and having an NHL team scout already describing you as a cross between Eddie Shore and Doug Harvey. That was how Wren Blair summarized the Parry Sound phenom Orr before convincing the franchise to sign him to the Bruins-affiliated Oshawa Generals by the time he was 14. Orr went on to become the greatest blueliner of all-time, winner of eight straight Norris Trophies between 1967-68 and 1974-75.

6. Mario Lemieux, 1984

The names that follow Mario the Magnificent on this list got more feverish hype leading up to their debuts, but Lemieux is arguably the greatest prospect in hockey history judged solely on his junior-aged performance. In his draft campaign of 1983-84, he compiled a hilarious 133 goals and 282 points in 70 games, topping Lafleur for the greatest single season in the history of major junior. If Lemieux had accomplished such a feat in 2023, he’d be No. 1 on this list.

5. Wayne Gretzky, 1978

On one hand, perhaps no prospect in the history of the sport surfaced on the national radar at a younger age than the Brantford prodigy Gretzky. He scored 378 goals in one season as a 10-year-old. By the time he was being courted by the WHA’s Indianapolis Racers for what would’ve been his NHL Draft year, he was a bona fide phenom with potential for NHL stardom. But that’s the thing; it was only seen as potential at the time. Because Gretzky was considered undersized even for his era, a healthy skepticism existed over whether he could be a dominant pro and succeed when transitioning from the WHA to stiffer NHL competition post-merger. One scout joked he could “wear a fur coat for Halloween and pass for a pipe cleaner.” Gretzky is the greatest team sport athlete ever to walk the Earth, but he places fifth on the hype list because he wasn’t trumpeted as a sure thing when he debuted. At a wispy 5-foot-11 and 170 pounds, he actually had some critics.

4. Connor Bedard, 2023

McDavid was only a couple years into his NHL career by the time Bedard, barely a teenager yet, was being anointed as the successor. When I was working at The Hockey News, we ran a story calling him ‘The Future of Hockey’ when he was 13. You can dig through highlight reels of him lighting opponents up as a 14-year-old on YouTube. Bedard has come of age in a time where his every puck touch is seen and analyzed, and he has done nothing but meet the hype again and again at every stage of his development. NHL teams like the Blackhawks will never admit it, but they were tripping over themselves to tank in hopes of building around him. His first NHL game will be appointment viewing next fall. To put the hype in context: even in fantasy hockey circles, experts are preparing to take him as high as the first or second round in drafts next year before he plays a shift.

3. Eric Lindros, 1991

Lindros was a unicorn, Shaquille O’Neal on skates, blessed with elite-grade skill but built like Superman. There has never been a prospect quite like him before or since. Think Tage Thompson’s body with Radko Gudas’ temperament. The media circus surrounding Lindros in the years leading up to his 1992-93 NHL debut was incredibly memorable, but imagine what it would’ve been in the social media era. The Quebec Nordiques had the No. 1 overall pick for 1991 and took Lindros despite him indicating in advance that he’d never play for them due to his feelings about their ownership, and the soap opera dragged on an entire year as he awaited a trade, playing for Team Canada at the 1992 Olympics. He became a Philadelphia Flyer on Draft Day 1992 as part of an all-time blockbuster that sent the likes of Forsberg, Ron Hextall and Mike Ricci to Quebec. Lindros had generated a career’s worth of headlines by the time he began his Hall of Fame playing career in the fall of 1992.

2. Connor McDavid, 2015

McDavid checks all the boxes of mega hype for prospects, including being a known commodity for years before being drafted and earning exceptional status in major junior. But perhaps what stood out the most about McDavid was the Paul Bunyan factor. Legend of his exploits began to spread when he was playing for the GTHL’s Toronto Marlboros, and active NHL players were known to track his career arc and watch his highlights. His breathtaking speed and lightning quick hands make him arguably the most evolved pure hockey talent ever, and that was apparent from his early days. It was a virtual certainty that he would live up to his generational talent billing when the Edmonton Oilers snagged him with the first overall pick. With six scoring titles already by age 26, he has somehow exceeded expectations.

1. Sidney Crosby, 2005

Crosby was the first generational talent to go viral. He grew up in the internet era and was thus the first “shareable” hockey phenom. “Have you heard of this kid?” “Have you seen this video?” People would ask. In his early teen years, Crosby was featured on CBC telecasts. He was dubbed ‘The Next One’ and had celebrity status before he even turned pro. Magnifying the Crosby hype: the 2004-05 NHL lockout. With no NHL games to watch, fans turned more of their attention to major junior, where he was dominating with Rimouski, and to the 2005 World Junior Championship, where he played on arguably the greatest team ever assembled. Coming out of the lockout with the Penguins winning the Draft lottery and teams dealing with the salary cap for the first time ever, Crosby was the unofficial King of what people called ‘The New NHL.’

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