Connor Bedard is already being criticized following a decision that does not seem to be unanimous
The World Hockey Championship has taken off this week, and many young players have seized this opportunity to continue their development and prepare for the upcoming season. Several prospects from the Canadiens have accepted their national team's invitation to represent their country in this tournament. Lane Hutson, Sean Farrell, Luke Tuch, Frederik Dichow, Justin Barron and even Samuel Montembeault are currently in Europe, helping their team strive for great honors.
Adam Fantilli, who is predicted to be the future second overall pick in the upcoming draft, has notably accepted Canada's invitation to represent his country. The 18-year-old prospect has been performing well since the beginning of the tournament, tallying two assists in two games.
On the other hand, Connor Bedard has chosen to decline the invitation from the Canadian team in order to rest before his first season in a Blackhawks uniform. This controversial decision clearly did not sit well with Jean-Charles Lajoie, who would have liked to see the young prodigy with Team Canada. In the 'JiC' show, Tony Marinaro and Lajoie engaged in a heated conversation as they shared completely different opinions on the matter.
Here's the debate between the two men:
Disagreeing with his colleague, Tony Marinaro immediately retorted.
"Yeah, and? What does he have to prove? When you're going on vacation at the end of June, are you going to come work here? He wants to rest like everyone else!"
"It's a missed opportunity," Lajoie replied.
"And what if he gets injured because he's done too much this year?" Marinaro fired back.
"Injure himself how? By breaking a leg? No, but what kind of injury would you want him to have? Do you really think something could happen that would jeopardize his career? It's true that the World Championship is really scary," "JiC" sarcastically insisted.
"I have absolutely no problem with his choice. He's always represented his country," Marinaro concluded.
Although Connor Bedard has nothing left to prove to anyone and is already assured of being selected first overall in the upcoming draft, it would have been interesting to see how the 17-year-old performs against NHL players.
We will have to wait for the start of the 2023-2024 season to see how the forward fares against the best hockey players in the world
Credit : Habs et LNH
| POLL | ||
Do you believe that Connor Bedard made the right decision by declining Team Canada's invitation? | ||
| Yes | 148 | 64.9 % |
| No | 80 | 35.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
