Connor Bedard’s five-year extension with the Chicago Blackhawks became official on Saturday, and it carries one of the NHL’s largest cap hits.
The Blackhawks signed Bedard to a $75 million contract with a $15 million average annual value, but the deal's structure is far from ordinary.
Bedard will count only $15 million against Chicago’s salary cap each season of his deal through 2030-31, making him the league’s third-highest-paid player by average annual value behind Anaheim Ducks center Leo Carlsson and Minnesota Wild winger Kirill Kaprizov.
The contract figures, however, are a bit deceiving. According to PuckPedia, Chicago built a frontloaded contract around large annual signing bonuses tied directly to Bedard’s No. 98 jersey, instead of creating a flat deal.
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Bedard will receive a $9.8 million signing bonus in each of the five seasons, with those payments totaling $49 million of the contract’s $75 million value.
The remaining $26 million is spread across the five years with a base salary that declines throughout the agreement. Bedard will earn $7.2 million in salary during the first year, before that number gradually falls to $3.2 million in the fifth and final season.
The extension also includes a full no-movement clause in its final season but gives Bedard no protection for the first four years of his new deal with the Blackhawks.
Bedard's agent, Don Meehan, discussed the deal with The Athletic and revealed that, while the player fully acknowledges the evolving NHL financial landscape, with contracts increasing by the year, it was Bedard who ultimately greenlighted the extension.
“It’s certainly reflective of the changing economic climate in our game today,” Meehan said. “But 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.”
Through three NHL seasons, Bedard has scored 75 goals and 203 points while appearing in 219 regular-season games.
