Connor Bedard scored more goals and handed out more assists than Leo Carlsson last season. He\u2019s outpointed Carlsson 203-141 over their three seasons in the NHL. He was drafted with the No. 1 pick in 2023, while Carlsson went second. Bedard is the face of an Original Six franchise in a huge market, one of the faces of the league, and one of its biggest names and biggest stars. By all rights, Bedard should make more money than Carlsson.<\/p>\n
And had he asked the Blackhawks for $18 million a season, he probably would have gotten it. He was only a restricted free agent, but he\u2019s the most important person in the Blackhawks organization. He still had all the leverage.<\/p>\n
But when the Philadelphia Flyers signed Carlsson to that five-year, $90 million offer sheet, Bedard quickly told his agents that it didn\u2019t change anything for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s certainly reflective of the changing economic climate in our game today,\u201d Don Meehan, Bedard\u2019s agent, said. \u201cBut as far as Connor was concerned, he was happy with the original position that we had submitted to Chicago and negotiated. He wanted the team to have as much leeway to make the team as effective and competitive as it could be. He became aware of the changing economic landscape, but that was his decision, entirely his decision.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not to say Bedard took some huge hometown discount. The Blackhawks signed their star center to a five-year deal with a $15 million annual cap hit on Saturday<\/a>, making Bedard the third-highest-paid player in the league after Carlsson and the Minnesota Wild\u2019s Kirill Kaprizov. The number is staggering on its face, but it\u2019s the new financial reality of the NHL. The flat-cap era that followed the pandemic is over, and by the midpoint of Bedard\u2019s contract, he very well might be a bargain.<\/p>\n \u201cIt certainly means we\u2019re enjoying economic growth in our game today with hockey-related revenue,\u201d Meehan said.<\/p>\n Money was never the issue. The sticking point \u2014 if you can call it that \u2014 was term.<\/p>\n Recent history has seen star players sign for the max term of eight years out of their entry-level deals, as Connor McDavid, Leon Draisaitl and Jack Eichel did. But with the cap rising at its current rate \u2014 Meehan said he\u2019s heard around 8 percent a year for the foreseeable future \u2014 the league is likely to see a resurgence in so-called bridge deals like those signed by Sidney Crosby, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane in the late 2000s and early 2010s.<\/p>\n When negotiations began in early June around the draft combine in Buffalo, N.Y., general manager Kyle Davidson and the Blackhawks asked for more term. This extension will expire when Bedard is just 26 years old and buys out only one year of unrestricted free agency. His next contract promises to be a monster. On the other side, Bedard at one point considered an even shorter deal to maximize his earning potential. Davidson successfully pled his case, though.<\/p>\n \u201cThat would have really placed Connor in absolute control,\u201d Meehan said. \u201cBut he became sensitive to Chicago\u2019s need for stability and continuity. And Kyle felt he needed to send a signal internally and externally that Connor was there for not just a short period of time, but a longer period of time. As a result, we came to a conclusion and a consensus that five years was appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n The Carlsson offer sheet sent shockwaves through the hockey world, and Blackhawks fans felt it as much as anybody. Would somebody try to poach Bedard or, considering the fact Davidson would have had no choice but to match any offer, cripple the Blackhawks from a roster-building standpoint by signing Bedard to an offer sheet?<\/p>\n Meehan said it was never a consideration.<\/p>\n \u201cConnor made it clear even after the (Carlsson) offer sheet \u2014 and before the offer sheet \u2014 that he had no intention of signing an offer sheet, that he was happy in Chicago, believed in the organization, believed in his teammates, and was quite content and happy to stay exactly where he was in Chicago,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Bedard suffered a shoulder injury during a training session in Burnaby, B.C., this month, but that didn\u2019t affect negotiations, Meehan said. Bedard is expected to miss about the first six weeks of the season as he recovers. He had the option of rehabbing the shoulder and maybe avoiding surgery, but the risk was that after four to six weeks of rehab, he still might have needed surgery, forcing him to miss even more time. So Bedard took the advice of his doctors and got the surgery immediately. Meehan said the surgeon later called it a \u201cwise decision\u201d because the shoulder was unstable and wouldn\u2019t have been fixed by rehab alone.<\/p>\n Meehan cautioned that the shorter-term deal shouldn\u2019t be construed as Bedard being uneasy about where things are in Chicago, even after three straight bottom-three finishes. Davidson aggressively added defenseman Bowen Byram this offseason, trading the No. 4 pick, a second-rounder and Louis Crevier to the Buffalo Sabres, and immediately signed Byram to a six-year deal with a $12.5 million cap hit<\/a>. That\u2019s a start. But assuming Davidson can\u2019t land a long shot such as Dallas RFA Jason Robertson, Bedard will go into his fourth season still without a proven top-line winger. Rookie Roman Kantserov will get the first crack at it after he led the KHL in goals as a 21-year-old.<\/p>\n \u201cConnor\u2019s very happy,\u201d Meehan said. \u201cHe always was committed and has made it clear that he\u2019s very happy in Chicago. He really believes in his teammates, and he doesn\u2019t suffer any constructive criticism of the team or his teammates well. He doesn\u2019t tolerate that. He believes, and he\u2019s totally committed.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Connor Bedard scored more goals and handed out more assists than Leo Carlsson last season. 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