Caps’ prospect Suzdalev on experience playing alongside Bedard originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
HERSHEY, Pa. — With the 2023 NHL Draft Lottery just around the corner, all eyes are on Connor Bedard.
The 17-year-old Canadian sensation is expected to be the No. 1 overall pick in June’s NHL Draft. Bedard has earned comparisons to several modern-day stars, with many draft experts calling the center the sport’s best prospect since Connor McDavid in 2015.
After missing the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in nine years, the Washington Capitals are one of the teams hoping to land the top pick in Monday’s lottery. And if they do earn the No. 1 overall pick and eventually draft Bedard, there’s already one player in the organization that’s plenty familiar with him.
That would be Capitals’ 2022 third-round pick Alexander Suzdalev, who spent this past season as Bedard’s teammate for the Regina Pats of the Western Hockey League in Canada.
Unsurprisingly, Bedard was Regina’s most productive player by a considerable margin. The 17-year-old tallied 71 goals and 72 assists (143 points) in just 57 games played. In the playoffs, Bedard added another 20 points (10 goals, 10 assists) in just seven games before the Pats were eliminated.
Playing on Bedard’s line for a good portion of the 2022-23 season, especially towards the end of the year, Suzdalev got to see firsthand why many hockey experts believe Bedard will be a future NHL star.
“You see how good he is every day. He does some crazy stuff there,” Suzdalev told NBC Sports Washington. “If he keeps going, I’m sure he’ll be a star player soon.”
While Bedard earned much of the on-ice praise, Sudzalev shone in his own right, too, as the 19-year-old led WHL rookies in goals, assists and points. Once Regina’s 2022-23 season concluded, the Capitals re-assigned Suzdalev to Hershey to join the team’s AHL affiliate for the Bears’ Calder Cup Playoff run.
“It’s been a good season overall,” Suzdalev said. “There are still some things I can improve. But for sure, it was a good season. My teammates made it easy for me and I had a really good coaching staff there. … They helped me a lot with my game.”
Suzdalev said he and Bedard are pretty close friends off the ice and speak regularly. In fact, the two players were roommates when Regina went on the road. Suzdalev said rooming with Bedard “was pretty fun” and emphasized that his linemate was one of the biggest jokesters on the team, so he often enjoyed hanging around him.
The Capitals have just a 6% chance to win the lottery, the eighth-best of any team. Although the odds aren’t necessarily in the Capitals’ favor, Suzdalev hopes Washington does earn the top pick, just to have the chance to potentially share the ice with Bedard again down the road.
“There’s some chance, of course,” Suzdalev said. “It would be fun, for sure, to have a player like that come to the Washington Caps organization. It would be fun for him and for sure it would be fun to be reunited.”