What will Connor Bedard’s next contract look like? 

After watching Kirill Kaprizov set an NHL record on his next deal, and with Connor McDavid now locked up for another two years, things are about to get interesting on the contract front across the league.

Of note, Chicago Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard is in the third and final year of his entry-level contract with a $950,000 cap hit. He’s due for a new deal, and while he hasn’t exploded offensively like many expected, there’s still plenty of time for the 20-year-old to become the star many expect him to be.

On today’s episode of Daily Faceoff Live, Jeff Marek looked at what Bedard’s next deal could look like:

Carter Hutton: “Another one I want to get off of here next is Connor Bedard. I really wanted to pick your brain on this with this new landscape of forecasting the salary cap. He had a down year last year. If he goes off or if he has a tough year, where do we sit? Like, what is his contract look like as he’s going to be an RFA at the end of the season?

Jeff Marek: “He’s a minimum $10 million guy, right? $10 million, eight-year deal. You can still sign an eight-year contract until September 15th, 2026. So he still has the ability to sign that. He’s probably between 10 and 13 (and a half). I know he hasn’t jumped into the NHL and completely dominated. He’s not a top-five scorer. He’s not a shoo-in for the Olympic team. But it’s good and steady progress from Conor Bedard on a team that’s built not to have success and is building very slowly here.

“So I think he’s minimum $10 million, probably closer to $12 million on an eight-year deal, but we have to see what happens this season. But you’re right. Think about this, guys, we’re walking into a universe right now where for the first time in I don’t know how long – because we all expect (Jack) Eichel to sign and Kyle O’Connor to sign, etc. Are we going to walk into a situation where everybody’s got cap space and there’s no one to spend it on? If you’re Adrian Kempe or Martin Necas, don’t you think to yourself, “Why would I sign now?” Unless it’s a ridiculous con, “Why would I sign now?” And all of a sudden the cap is at 107… Why would they do a deal now? They may end up being the big fishes where everybody has cap space and no one to spend it on. Weird situation.

You can watch the full episode below: