Connor Bedard has just made a controversial decision and he is being criticized

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Elias Adaime
May 14, 2023 (6:14 PM)

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Many young prospects have accepted the invitation from their national team to represent their country at the World Hockey Championship. We only have to think of Sean Farrell, Lane Hutson, Luke Tuch, Justin Barron, and Frederik Dichow, who are all currently representing their country at this tournament. Hutson has already demonstrated his shootout prowess in a warm-up game against Germany.

Among the players who will be eligible for the next draft, the one who is expected to go second, Adam Fantilli, has accepted Team Canada's offer. He has, in fact, two points and two assists, in as many games and is doing quite well.

The one who will surely be wearing a Chicago Blackhawks jersey next June, Connor Bedard, however, declined the invitation from the Canadian team. This refusal stirred controversy on Thursday night's "JiC" show where the host, Jean-Charles Lajoie, would have liked a better decision from the young man. He raised the point with Tony Marinaro who completely disagreed with him.

Here is their exchange:

"Adam Fantilli is there, he is. I don't understand it, honestly."

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.

While it's true that he has nothing to prove, seeing him play with and against men could have given a good idea of the rookie's level of play ahead of the upcoming season. We will therefore have to wait until next September to see how he fares at the next level!