A lot of energy continues to constantly get thrown at comparisons between the Blackhawks’ rebuild and the Sharks’ rebuild and the career starts from Connor Bedard and Macklin Celebrini. Two young players who came into the NHL from different places with different perspectives and experiences — and expectations. And their respective franchises are trying to figure out how to get back to their “glory days” of the 2010s with a new approach.
So much time has been spent making statistical comparisons (many in a vacuum and with limited context) that seeing the two working out together in the offseason feels like they get it and the rest of us are just trying to stir the pot.
But take a step back for a moment. The Sharks and Blackhawks “glory days” teams of the last decade had some magnificent battles. Their rosters were stacked with future Hall of Famers and some of the best players of their respective generations. Unfortunately for San Jose, the three championships captured by the two franchises during the decade all reside in Chicago. But the two teams had a bit of a rivalry before the media hype started to pour on the Bedard vs. Celebrini matchup.
Which made me think about one of the greatest media-created individual rivalries in the history of the league.
Are we entering a new era in the NHL where the next two decades will be filled with Bedard vs. Crosby talk the way the previous two were filled with incredible performances from Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin?
On the surface, the comparisons between the two rivalries sets up remarkably well. In fact, the more I got into the comparisons, the more similarities came to the surface.
Geoff Burke-Imagn ImagesBedard-Celebrini & Crosby-Ovechkin comparisons
The Penguins enjoyed incredible success in the 1990s with some of the greatest players in the history of that organization bringing championships to Pittsburgh. But the franchise had fallen on hard times and needed someone to take up the mantle as the face of the franchise from Mario Lemieux.
Between the 1982-83 and 1997-98 seasons — basically the prime years of Lemieux’s career — the Washington Capitals made the playoffs in 15 of 16 seasons. They made it to one Stanley Cup Final; they lost to the Red Wings in 1998.
The Blackhawks 2010s saw three championships come to Chicago. Chicago boasted some of the greatest players in the history of the franchise. But those players got older, the health of captain Jonathan Toews declined, and the franchise needed a reset.
If we pick the year before Toews and Patrick Kane arrived as a parallel to the year before the Penguins drafted Super Mario, the Sharks made the playoffs in 12 of 13 seasons. They advanced to one Stanley Cup Final, where they lost to the… Crosby-led Penguins. Because of course.
Crosby (2005) and Ovechkin (2004) were drafted No. 1 overall in back-to-back years. Bedard (2023) and Celebrini (2024) were as well.
The Penguins had the No. 2 pick in the 2004 NHL Draft immediately following the Capitals selection of Ovechkin. The Blackhawks had the No. 2 pick in the 2024 NHL Draft immediately following the selection of Celebrini. Pittsburgh took Evgeni Malkin, a big center to complement Crosby. The Blackhawks took Artyom Levshunov, a defenseman.
The Penguins had a couple years of a head start on their rebuild over the Capitals. Pittsburgh also made huge investments in building thru the draft. The Penguins selected Marc-André Fleury first overall in 2003, Malkin second in 2004 and Crosby first overall in 2005. They also selected Ryan Whtiney fifth overall in 2002 and Jordan Staal second overall in 2006 (thank you — that made Toews available for the Blackhawks).
The Capitals’ first pick the year before they selected was Ovechkin was 18th overall (Eric Fehr). But they had two top-five picks in the years that followed drafted Ovechkin: Nicklas Backstrom (fourth overall in 2006) and Karl Alzner (fifth overall in 2007).
The Blackhawks have had had a top-ten pick in four consecutive drafts: Kevin Korchinki (No. 7 in 2022), Bedard, Levshunov and Anton Frondell (No. 3 in 2025).
The Sharks have also had three consecutive top-five picks: Will Smith (No. 4 in 2023), Celebrini and Michael Misa (No. 2 in 2025).
Believe the hype
Bedard came in with Crosby-level hype. He was labeled “generational” at a young age. Both were asked to replace icons.
Celebrini came out of the college ranks. There wasn’t as much hype surrounding his arrival because, frankly, I think we were all exhausted from Bedard’s entrance to the league. Ovechkin was drafted out of Russia so there wasn’t as much built up around his arrival as there was Crosby’s. And… there was a labor issue at hand.
The biggest difference between the starts of the careers of Crosby and Ovechkin to the beginnings of Bedard and Celebrini’s career is something we can all be thankful for: the NHL lost what could have been Ovechkin’s rookie season to a work stoppage. So Crosby and Ovechkin came into the league together, and immediately went to work changing the trajectories of their respective careers while also being asked to, in some regards, save the NHL.
We’re two full decades into the careers of Crosby and Ovechin. Both have won a championship (Crosby has three to Ovechkin’s one). They have both lived up to the expectations and become two of the greatest players in the history of the NHL. Both will eventually be Hall of Famers. And their media-created rivalry grew on the ice. They have also been able to find respect for each other and a bond off the ice over the years.
We’re just one season into the media-created rivalry between Bedard and Celebrini. They’re already buddies who work out together in the offseason. And they will likely be the faces of future Olympic and other international teams for Canada.
The more people focus on those two young players and the teams around them, the more we can expect there to be Bedard vs. Celebrini pitched as the future of the league. If the Bedard-Celebrini rivalry can come anywhere close to what we’ve enjoyed from Crosby and Ovechkin, that would be incredible for the fans in Chicago and San Jose — and the NHL as a whole. We’re a long way from making that prediction. But I’m all-in for the ride if that’s what’s ahead for hockey.
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