Blackhawks Re-Sign Connor Bedard

Last season, Bedard took another step forward.  He set new career bests in goals (30), assists (45), and points (75) despite missing 13 games due to a shoulder injury and illness.  That was enough for him to lead the Blackhawks in scoring for the third straight year.  He also saw his playing time increase to just under 21 minutes per night as new head coach Jeff Blashill leaned on him heavily.  As far as platform seasons go, it was a solid one.

Bedard may be hard-pressed to beat his point total by a significant amount this coming season.  He suffered a shoulder injury earlier this month during offseason training, one that required surgery and a recovery period of four months.  With the regular season now starting in September to accompany the expanded schedule, he’s likely to miss the first six weeks of the season.  Depending on when he returns, he’s likely to miss 18 to 25 games as a result of the injury.

Clearly, the injury didn’t have much effect on contract discussions.  The $15MM AAV makes him the third-highest-paid player in the league in that regard, behind only Minnesota winger Kirill Kaprizov and Anaheim center Leo Carlsson.  Kaprizov wasn’t a direct comparable given that he was a pending unrestricted free agent but the contract handed out by Philadelphia via an offer sheet (one the Ducks matched) almost certainly played a role in discussions.  Carlsson, of course, was the second overall pick in Bedard’s draft class and had a strong platform year himself.  Without trying to provide enough of a poison pill to deter an offer-sheeting team from matching as the Flyers did with Carlsson, Chicago was able to get something done well below Carlsson’s $18MM price tag.

This contract covers Bedard’s four RFA-eligible seasons as well as one year of UFA eligibility.  Accordingly, he will only be eligible for trade protection in the 2030-31 season.

More notably, this contract also seemingly sets the window for the Blackhawks to get themselves back into contention.  Bedard is now set to become eligible to test the open market as a 26-year-old, where he should be in the prime of his career while setting himself up for a more lucrative payday at that time.  If Chicago wants to keep its top player around at that time, they’ll probably need to be much further along in their competitive window than they were over Bedard’s first three professional campaigns.  But that’s a concern for GM Kyle Davidson for another day.  For today, he can be happy about having his franchise player locked up for the next half-decade.