Connor Bedard spoke with reporters Monday for the first time since his July shoulder surgery and his five-year, $75 million extension, and his version of the negotiation matched the one his agent gave a day earlier: short, calm, and never really in doubt. “I don’t think there was any stress involved with it,” Bedard said, per Bleacher Nation’s Tab Bamford. “I think we both knew that it wasn’t going to take too many calls or meetings to get it done.” It was the player’s side of the story his camp told the Sun-Times on Sunday, and it filled in a few details the agent left out.
One of them: the $9.8 million annual signing bonus on the deal was the Blackhawks‘ idea, Bedard said. Another was his answer on Leo Carlsson‘s $18 million offer sheet, which landed mid-negotiation and briefly made Bedard’s $15 million average look like a discount. “I’m very happy with the amount of money I’m making. It’s a lot,” he said. “The offer sheet is going to be a different value. That didn’t change anything I was thinking. Chicago is really the only place I want to play.”
The rest of his session was about the roster the money committed him to. Bedard called Bowen Byram a future “one of the best defensemen in the league” and ran through the free-agent additions — Ian Cole, Cole Smith, Jordan Greenway — before setting the target plainly: “We want to take a big step this year. We want to be a playoff team. That’s our only goal.” On the shoulder, he would not confirm the projected four-month recovery, saying only that he intends to make the rehab “as quick as possible, and as well-done as possible.” Chicago opens Sept. 29 in Vegas, likely weeks before he is cleared.
For a franchise that has spent three years asking fans to trust a timeline, hearing the cornerstone talk about playoffs rather than progress is the notable shift. The contract expires when Bedard is 26; the window to be right about this roster opens now.
Fantasy managers should treat the presser as confirmation rather than news: Bedard remains a hold in all dynasty formats, and his November-ish return date makes him a draft-day discount in redraft leagues — target him a round or two below his talent, and pair him with a stable second center for October.
