Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks are staring at a number that could reshape the whole payroll.
The Blackhawks are still an RFA negotiation away from locking up their franchise center, and the range being floated is not small.
Insider David Pagnotta said on the DFO Rundown this week that Chicago sounds comfortable landing Bedard somewhere between $12.5 million and $14 million a year.
David Pagnotta: Re Connor Bedard negotiations: I think Chicago is probably...comfortable in the 12.5 to 13, 14 [million AAV] range.
That's not pocket change. That range would put Bedard right next to the highest-paid players in the entire league.
Leon Draisaitl tops the NHL at $14 million. Auston Matthews sits at $13.25 million. Connor McDavid is at $12.5 million.
Bedard just finished his age-20 season with 30 goals and 45 assists for 75 points across 69 games, with five game-winning goals mixed in.
He's still playing on his entry-level deal, carrying a cap hit of just $950,000. That number is about to look ancient.
Bedard's slump timing could complicate the number
Here's the wrinkle nobody's talking about enough. Bedard closed the year cold, putting up just eight points over his final ten games with zero goals in that stretch.
His plus-minus cratered too, sitting at minus-14 over that same ten-game window after finishing the year at minus-18 overall.
Does a cold finish change Chicago's appetite for a max-range deal? Probably not. Teams pay for what a player is, not how he closed out a lost season.
And Chicago's season was rough by any measure. The Blackhawks finished 29-39-14 for 72 points, with a minus-62 goal differential that ranked near the bottom of the league.
Paying a 20-year-old $13 million or $14 million a year while your team sits at the bottom of the standings is a real bet on the future, not the present. General manager Kyle Davidson is essentially betting the whole rebuild on one number.
That's a franchise-altering swing for a front office led by Davidson, who has now been running Chicago's hockey operations since October 2021.
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No deal is signed. No term is confirmed. And the gap between "comfortable in that range" and an actual signed number can still swing hard in either direction before training camp opens.
Should the Blackhawks pay Connor Bedard $14 million a year right now?
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