Blackhawks Player Grades: Connor Bedard Unsurprisingly Leads All Forwards
The Chicago Blackhawks had an up-and-down year from their forwards. This is a grade for everyone who dressed.
Video Transcript
He also won the Calder Trophy, of course, his first year in the NHL.
So, Mike, I'll ask you first, now that we know, that these talks are ongoing, what do you think is an AAV and a term that is reasonable for Chicago and Bedard to settle on, especially considering, you know, the cap going up here?
Yeah, that's gonna be a big consideration because we saw with some of the players that were coming off their ELC, you know, most notably JJ Peterka of the Buffalo Sabres and Matthew Knies of the Toronto Maple Leafs, there was a battle with, their, their particular teams on the length of the contract.
And in the p- case of Peterka, it ended up getting him shipped off to Utah because I think the Sabres only wanted to sign him to a bridge deal, wh- whereas Matthew Knies signed a six-year deal.
I think that battle is gonna go on between Kyle Davidson and the representatives for Connor Bedard.
Now, he's a fer- former first overall pick and a Calder Trophy winner, so he's at a higher level.
I am sure the Blackhawks wanna get him locked up for eight years.
I am sure that the agent is saying, "Eh, maybe not."
So, in the end, I think they'll probably compromise on contract length.
I mean, he's 19 years old, so if they go five or six years, it would make him un- an unrestricted free agent at 25.
I think the Blackhawks could live with six years, but they're gonna want eight.
S- And the A- and the AAV, I'm sorry, I would say $10 to $11 million a year.
Yeah.
That's kinda my range.
Yeah.
I was gonna ask, Steven, what do you think?
'Cause again, you know, we're seeing this a lot around the league with GMs trying to go for the longer term, but then the agents pushing back and wanting the, the shorter term with a higher AAV, knowing that the cap is going up.
So Steven, sounds like you're in agreement there.
Yeah, I am.
And I, you know, Kyle Davidson did point this out when he met with the media that, you know, with the new CBA taking effect in 2026, '27, and, you know, w- he of course talks around the salary cap thing by saying, you know, the, the cap is gonna be going up, so kinda hard to, to arrive at a figure right now.
But yeah, I wa- I was thinking 9 to 11, y- you know, the AAV.
I, I mean, I think, you know, Bedard is He's made it clear, he's saying all the right things.
Yeah, he wants to be here long term, you know, and that sort of thing, and he's entering the last year of his, entry level contract.
But I don't think it's something I, I don't think you can expect a deal to get done tomorrow, even next week.
This is gonna go on for a while.
And I, I just you know, for me, the, the most interesting question, especially if I'm Connor Bedard, is, "So who are you going to surround me with that's going to get us back in the playoffs?"
You know, they, they've got some young guys like, Nazar, Oliver Moore, Sam, you know, Rinzel, and, Lesch- I always forget.
Luchenok.
Yeah, that's it.
But you know, and trading for Sam Lafferty.
But you know, they, they've gotta start making some big splashes pretty soon, I think.
