- Ben Pope says the Blackhawks and Connor Bedard’s camp haven’t made much progress on a new deal
- Bedard’s next cap hit is expected to land between $13M and $16M
- Read below for where the talks stand and what’s holding them up
The Connor Bedard contract watch in Chicago is going to drag on a while.
Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times reported that the Blackhawks and Bedard’s camp haven’t made much progress on a new deal this offseason. The two sides remain far apart with free agency closing in.
Bedard finished his entry-level contract this spring, and a new deal is Chicago’s top priority. Pope pegged the next cap hit somewhere between $13 million and $16 million, a massive figure the front office has already planned around.
The holdup isn’t money. Chicago is sitting on roughly $40 million in projected cap space, per PuckPedia. The real sticking point is term, since an eight-year extension can be signed before mid-September while Bedard’s side might prefer a shorter deal that sets up an even bigger one later.
He’s coming off the best season of his career. Bedard put up 30 goals, 45 assists and 75 points in 69 games, his first year above a point per game. A shoulder injury in early December cost him 13 games and he still cleared that mark.
Watch Bedard’s end-of-season highlights from the Blackhawks:
The 20-year-old, taken first overall in the 2023 draft, isn’t sweating the calendar. He’s said he wants to stay in Chicago and expects the deal to get done, even if it slips past the next month.
Chicago has the cap room and the time. Getting its franchise center signed before September is the last big box left on the summer to-do list.
