Unruly Teens Are Taking Over The National Hockey League
Icon Sportswire. Getty Images.What are the majority of kids doing at 18/19-years-old? You have hopes and dreams for how your life is going to turn out at that point, but you're not really focused on achieving them yet. You still have your whole life ahead of you. So instead, you focus on doing some under age drinking with the boys, trying to get laid, and getting into a little trouble.
That's why the saying is that "children are our future" instead of "children are our present". Because those little fuckers need a few years to make some bad decisions before they finally figure their life out and get themselves on track.
But there are a group of teens right now in the NHL who aren't interested in waiting around. There are a few teens out there who are hellbent on completely taking over the best league in hockey right now before they even know how to do their own laundry.
You've got a 19-year-old rookie Matvei Michkov in Philly who just scored his first career overtime goal last week against the Ottawa Senators.
No angle? No problem. Every time Matvei Michkov touches the puck, he's looking to make something special happen. Something that almost everybody else in the world would think "what the hell is this kid thinking?" until it ends up working out and the puck is in the back of the net. He's still just figuring out the game right now at this level and on North American ice, but he's projected to have a 70-point season.
On Saturday, he'll go up against 19-year-old Connor Bedard for the first time as NHL opponents. It's set up to be this generation's Ovechkin vs Crosby.
Bedard might be having a slow start to his 2nd year in the league but that's just because the Blackhawks are a disastrous hockey team, and just a rotten franchise down to their core. Bedard is still a superstar, but he's surrounded by shit. With that being said, he'll have some extra giddy up in his game on Saturday because Bedard and Michkov have already built up quite a rivalry going up against one another.
The only issue with Bedard vs Michkov being the next iteration of Crosby vs Ovechkin is that there might be 2 Crosby's right now. Because in San Jose, you have 18-year-old Macklin Celebrini who just became the 2nd 18-year-old this decade to score a game winner in overtime.
The only other 18-year-old to score a game winner in overtime this decade? Connor Bedard last season.
These kids just don't give a shit. Igor Shesterkin said it best--these kids should be in school right now.
These kids are barely old enough to be driving themselves home after their games. I'm pretty sure Macklin Celebrini just got his drivers license like a month ago. But they're already taking over the NHL right now. And that's without mentioning guys like 19-year-old Leo Carlsson…
Or 19-year-old Will Smith…
Or 19-year-old Zach Benson…
The kids are alright. I'm sure a bunch of goalies in the NHL are wishing some parents would have just kept it in their pants 19-20 years ago.