{"id":145307,"date":"2025-09-10T00:18:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T00:18:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/145307\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T00:18:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T00:18:07","slug":"bedard-blackhawks-comfortable-with-ongoing-contract-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/145307\/","title":{"rendered":"Bedard, Blackhawks ‘comfortable’ with ongoing contract talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

HENDERSON, Nev. — Connor Bedard<\/a> said contract talks with the Chicago Blackhawks are going well.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old center is entering the final season of his three-year, entry-level contract and can become a restricted free agent July 1.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nothing crazy,\u201d he said at the NHL\/NHLPA North American Player Media Tour on Tuesday. \u201cWe\u2019re both comfortable with where we\u2019re at. They know I want to be there; I know they want me. So, it\u2019s really not on my mind that much, and I just think when it happens, it\u2019ll happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon? Before the season?<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll see,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bedard, the No. 1 pick of the 2023 NHL Draft, led Chicago with 61 points (22 goals, 39 assists) in 2023-24 despite a fractured jaw limiting him to 68 games. He won the Calder Trophy, voted the NHL\u2019s rookie of the year.<\/p>\n

Last season, he went through the entire 82-game grind for the first time and led the Blackhawks with 67 points (23 goals, 44 assists).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s something I didn\u2019t understand,\u201d Bedard said. \u201cMy rookie year, I got hurt [39 games] in. Obviously, you never want to get hurt, but then I had a little break, and you feel good. So, I think getting to play 82 last year for me was great, because you [figure out] what makes you feel best.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that was so great for me just to learn. You have little gaps, and you find out, \u2018How can I not have that? How can I stay consistent?\u2019 The best players in the NHL, they\u2019re not going to be their best every game, but they\u2019re up there most games, so that\u2019s something that really is going to benefit me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bedard said he worked on his skating in the offseason to become more explosive. He\u2019s trying to make Canada\u2019s roster for the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026 after watching from afar as his country won the 4 Nations Face-Off in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would need to have a great start, kind of light it up a bit,\u201d he said. \u201cBut there\u2019s just so many great players in Canada. There\u2019s going to be guys that play great and don\u2019t make it. That\u2019s just how deep it is. I mean, obviously, you had the guys at 4 Nations, and they won, and you understand that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying not to think about it. Just go out and play and try to play the best I can and see what happens. If I play great and don\u2019t make it, like I said, there\u2019s so many great players. It\u2019s not going to be something that I would take personal or anything, but it would be special to be there, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Blackhawks have failed to qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs the past five seasons and finished 31st in the NHL each of the past two. But they have a new coach, Jeff Blashill, and young players like Bedard, forwards Frank Nazar<\/a> and Oliver Moore<\/a>, and defensemen Artyom Levshunov<\/a> and Sam Rinzel<\/a>. Nazar and Rinzel are 21. Moore is 20. Levshunov is 19.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel great about our guys,\u201d Bedard said. \u201cWe had a lot of guys come up last year and make big steps and make a difference. Obviously, we\u2019re going to be young, and that\u2019s exciting. I think we\u2019re all going to be growing up together and going through the fight together. I love our group. I\u2019m pumped to get going.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HENDERSON, Nev. — Connor Bedard said contract talks with the Chicago Blackhawks are going well. The 20-year-old center…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[385,99],"class_list":["post-145307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145307","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}