Connor Bedard has Jeff Blashill watching Chicago's first big contract fight of the summer.
David Pagnotta's reported $10 million to $12 million starting range never felt like the finish line. After Leo Carlsson's number hit the market, it looked more like Chicago's opening swing.
That is the part that matters for Kyle Davidson. Once a rival deal resets the lane for elite young centers, the first number on the table stops carrying much weight.
Bedard's side has all the leverage a star wants. He put up 75 points in 69 games last season, and that is not a profile teams bridge cheaply if they believe he is the face of the rebuild.
Chicago also knows this is not some cold negotiation with an unsure player. The club and Bedard opened talks a year ago, and both sides have been aligned publicly on a long-term future.
That does not make it simple. The Blackhawks finished 29-39-14, and that kind of record usually forces management to decide how much of the cap gets tied to one cornerstone before the roster is ready to win.
Chicago scored 213 goals, so Bedard's camp can look at the roster and argue he is already carrying too much of the offensive load to come in near the low end.
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Connor Bedard's next contract just became a much bigger challenge for the Blackhawks
This is why the Carlsson ripple matters so much. Once another young center lands a monster number, every comparable negotiation gets dragged into a new bracket, even if the term ends up different.
Davidson can still push back on structure. He can chase a shorter deal that keeps team control, or he can go long and try to buy certainty before the cap climbs again.
Blashill's role sits in the background, but it is real. A new coach does not want his top-line center stepping into camp with business hanging over every shift and every media scrum.
The Blackhawks were last in the Central again, so this is not just about paying a star. It is about telling the locker room exactly who the franchise is building around.
Bedard has already done enough to make the answer obvious. He led Chicago's attack, and there is no serious path forward where Davidson lets this drag into something louder than it needs to be.
That is why the reported $10 million to $12 million range feels old already. The market moved, Bedard's production backed it up, and Chicago now looks headed toward a much heavier final number than its first one.
Should the Blackhawks go all the way on Connor Bedard now?
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