CHICAGO \u2014 Connor Bedard has stated he wants to win Stanley Cup championships and wants to do it with the Chicago Blackhawks.<\/p>\n
Bedard committed to that pledge by agreeing to a five-year contract extension, carrying an average annual value of $15 million, the team announced Saturday afternoon<\/a>.<\/p>\n The deal, which comes a day after Bedard turned 21, is the third largest in the league in terms of average annual value behind only Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson ($18 million) and Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov ($17 million). It will keep Bedard in Chicago through the 2030-31 season, but buys out only one year of unrestricted free agency.<\/p>\n \u201cConnor has continuously defied our expectations since being drafted, and has quickly established himself as an elite player in the NHL,\u201d Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson said in a released statement. \u201cHe utilizes all aspects of his game to not only be a constant threat, but to make the players around him better every time he steps on the ice. Connor\u2019s strong work ethic and determination to always improve his game has set an extraordinary standard for our young core, and we\u2019re excited for the incredible impact he\u2019ll have in this next chapter of Blackhawks hockey.\u201d<\/p>\n Patrick Kane homecoming in Chicago or Buffalo?<\/p>\n Mark Lazerus and Shayna Goldman<\/p>\n Bedard\u2019s contract extension has been a topic of conversation since he was drafted with the No. 1 pick in 2023. It was known then that Bedard\u2019s second contract would be vital to Davidson\u2019s rebuild. Bedard was the main piece in a large puzzle. The focus on Bedard\u2019s contract has only grown with time, too. The possibility of an offer sheet has always been there, but it became more realistic when Leo Carlsson recently signed one with the Philadelphia Flyers (the Anaheim Ducks matched it<\/a> on July 9). Would Bedard follow suit? It was also unknown whether Bedard\u2019s recent shoulder injury and ensuing surgery would impact negotiations. He is expected to return in early November.<\/p>\n Few players have entered the NHL as well-known and hyped as Bedard in 2023. His elite offensive ability, combined with a social media microscope, made him a household name before he ever played an NHL game. That attention only increased as he went to the Blackhawks and began playing and being marketed in one of the league\u2019s biggest cities. While the Blackhawks have largely struggled on the ice in Bedard\u2019s first three seasons, he\u2019s been the driving force behind their top-five attendance, jersey sales and general relevance in Chicago and beyond.<\/p>\n \u201cWe couldn\u2019t be happier with how Connor has shown up every single night, the way he competes, the way he now leads this team in many ways,\u201d Blackhawks chairman and CEO Danny Wirtz said late into the 2025-26 season. \u201cOur intention is to absolutely get him signed and to have him be a Blackhawk for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n Bedard took his play to another level this past season. Though he was the Blackhawks\u2019 best player in his first two seasons, Bedard fell short of becoming the NHL\u2019s next era-defining player. But after a focused offseason, Bedard proved in 2025-26 that he can hang with the league\u2019s best. He had 19 goals and 25 assists in his first 31 games before his season was derailed by a shoulder injury. After that, his scoring pace fell off, and he had 11 goals and 20 assists over his final 38 games.<\/p>\n Bedard not only produced more this season, but he also took on a leadership role. After the Blackhawks traded veterans Nick Foligno, Connor Murphy and Jason Dickinson at the trade deadline, Bedard was promoted to alternate captain. He could be named captain later this offseason.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019d be an honor,\u201d Bedard said of the possibility of becoming captain<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019d be extremely special. We have a lot of guys in this room who can lead and take on those kind of roles. If I\u2019m the one who is chosen for that, I\u2019d be extremely grateful, and that\u2019s not something anyone would take for granted. This is a special organization; it\u2019s been around for 100 years now. You see the names that have gotten that honor; that would be amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n Bedard downplayed contract talks throughout the season and continued to express his loyalty to the organization and his belief in Davidson\u2019s rebuild plan. Now that Bedard has committed to a longer future with the Blackhawks, winning will undoubtedly become his priority. He\u2019s already said he wants the Blackhawks to be a playoff team next season.<\/p>\n \u201cI talk about wanting to win, we all want to win. I want to win here for as long as I\u2019m playing,\u201d Bedard said after the season. \u201cAt the end of the day, I have so much faith in the management, the coaching and also our players. We get to see each other every day, how we approach the game, how guys practice, how much skill there is.<\/p>\n \u201cI would go to bat for any single guy in that room and argue they\u2019re going to reach their full potential because of the mindset and work ethic we have in our group. I can\u2019t be more confident that we are going to get to where we want to get to. It\u2019s going to be a fun journey. I think that\u2019s what people say they look back on, is kind of growing up together and kind of getting better and better. We\u2019re motivated to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n What this means for the Blackhawks<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to overstate Bedard\u2019s importance to the Blackhawks. Not only is he by far their best player \u2014 and one of the best players on the planet when healthy \u2014 he\u2019s also the face of the franchise. For three years, he\u2019s been on just about every billboard, every social-media post. On his first day of training camp, the Blackhawks wheeled in a mobile kiosk just to sell No. 98 jerseys, shirseys and hoodies. The next time he puts on that sweater, it\u2019ll likely have a \u201cC\u201d sewn onto it. Bedard is the Blackhawks, and if he had asked for the same $18 million that Carlsson just got (via an offer sheet from the Flyers), he would have gotten it.<\/p>\n The $15 million price tag might provide some sticker shock to those still stuck in the flat-cap mentality that pervaded the NHL since the pandemic. But, if anything, it\u2019ll probably look like a bargain within a year or so as the cap keeps rising, and Bedard\u2019s star keeps ascending. In two years, that $15 million projects to be about 12.2 percent of the salary cap \u2014 that would have been just $10.1 million in Bedard\u2019s rookie season, or $7.84 million when Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane signed matching $10.5 million cap hits in 2014. He\u2019ll be the third-highest-paid player in the league this coming season, but will drop down the ranks quickly as some megastars sign over the next couple of years.<\/p>\n Besides, with Frank Nazar locked in long term and Artyom Levshunov and Anton Frondell in the early stages of their development, the Blackhawks don\u2019t figure to be in any significant cap trouble during Bedard\u2019s new deal. There still will be room to add, even after signing defenseman Bowen Byram to a six-year deal<\/a> with a $12.5-million cap hit. Welcome to the new world of the NHL. Those prices are only going up.<\/p>\n And remember, until he hurt his shoulder (not the one that he injured this summer) on Dec. 12, Bedard was third in the league in scoring \u2014 neck-and-neck with Macklin Celebrini. He\u2019s that good. Now the question becomes: How does Chicago maximize this five-year window and surround Bedard with the kind of talent that can put the Blackhawks back in the championship conversation? That\u2019ll be a lot trickier than retaining Bedard. \u2014 Mark Lazerus<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2014 Connor Bedard has stated he wants to win Stanley Cup championships and wants to do it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[4824,385,99],"class_list":["post-771323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-chicago-blackhawks","tag-nhl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771323","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=771323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}