US Trends

what is connor bedard contract

Connor Bedard is currently on his standard three-year NHL entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks, which runs through the 2025-26 season and carries a modest cap hit before his big extension years arrive.

Current Contract: Quick Facts

  • Type: 3-year NHL entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks.
  • Total contract value: about $13.35 million over three years (including bonuses).
  • Average annual value (AAV): roughly $4.45 million when you factor in performance and signing bonuses, even though the official cap hit is about $950,000 per season.
  • Term: Signed July 17, 2023, and runs through the 2025-26 season.
  • Status at expiry: He is set to become a restricted free agent (RFA) in summer 2026, not an unrestricted free agent.

In simple terms: he’s still on his rookie deal, very cheap against the cap, but with big money looming once that expires.

How His Entry-Level Deal Breaks Down

  • Cap hit per year: about $950,000, which is the standard max-cap-hit structure for top rookies under the NHL entry-level rules.
  • Structure highlights:
    • Includes a signing bonus total of around $285,000 over the life of the deal.
* The rest comes from base salary plus potential performance/bonuses that push his “real” earnings well above the cap hit figure.

This kind of entry-level setup is normal for a first overall pick: low cap hit, but heavy on bonuses so the player still earns significant money early.

Talks About His Next Contract

  • He became eligible to negotiate an extension once he had enough service time, and Chicago’s GM has publicly said the team and Bedard’s camp “are talking” about a new, long-term deal.
  • The Blackhawks and Bedard both appear to want a long-term extension that keeps him in Chicago for many years, which is typical for a franchise centerpiece.

Speculation on Future AAV

  • NHL insiders have floated the idea that if Bedard signs the maximum eight-year extension, his cap hit could land roughly in the 12.5–15 million per year range.
  • Those numbers are speculative, but they line up with what elite, Hart-level stars get under a rising salary cap.

Right now, though, that’s all projection; the only signed contract in place is still his three‑year entry-level deal.

Why This Is a Big Trending Topic

  • Bedard is viewed as a future face of the league, so his “next deal” is already a hot discussion point on sports shows and forums.
  • With the NHL salary cap jumping significantly over the next few seasons, his extension is often mentioned as a potential benchmark for the next wave of superstar contracts.

Forum-style takeaway

Fans right now are basically saying: “He’s on a cheap rookie deal today, but his next contract could be one of the richest in the NHL once he signs long-term in Chicago.”

TL;DR:
Connor Bedard is on a three-year, roughly $13.35M entry-level contract with a cap hit around $950K per season through 2025‑26, and insiders expect his next long-term deal with the Blackhawks to potentially land in the $12.5–15M per year range once signed.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.