The dog days of summer are officially here, and newsworthy notes are few and far between, and that goes double when you are following a team that is in the middle of a rebuild. The Hawks did make some news when they announced that they had officially signed Connor Bedard to his entry-level contract, thus ending all Hawks haters hopes of him pulling an Eric Lindros and refusing to play for Chicago. Unlike the NBA and NFL, NHL entry-level contracts are straight-forward, three years in length, maxing out at $950,00 per year. Bedard will have the chance to earn an additional $3.5 million in bonuses.
Type A Bonuses max out at $1 million, and for him to earn the maximum amount, he will need to meet four of these categories:
~ 20 goals
~ 35 assists
~ 60 points
~ Top 6 in total ice time among forwards (min. 42 games)
~ Top 3 in plus/minus among forwards (min. 42 games)
~ .73 ppg (min. 42 games)
~ End of season, all rookie teams
~ All-Star selection
~ All-Star MVP
Given the hype around him and the state of this team, I don’t think it’s going to be too difficult for him to earn the entire Type A Bonus. However, Type B bonuses are going to be a little bit more difficult to earn, but if he hits one of the following, he will see a nice $2.5 million pay check this summer.
~ Top 10 among NHL forwards in goals, assists, points, or ppg (min. 42 games)
~ Win one of the following: Hart, Selke, Richard, or Conn Smythe.
~ First or Second team all-star
It is going to be interesting to see how close he comes to these targets this season. One question I have going into the season is about the line situation. Is this going to be another year of tossing the lines in the blender and seeing what works, or in order to give Bedard the best chance to adjust to the game, will Coach Richardson keep things a bit more consistent? Right now, CapFriendly has the same top line as Hall, Bedard, and Reichel. While I believe we will see this combo a lot this season, I hope they kind of have that other wing position on rotation. This should be Reichel’s first full season in the NHL, and he showed flashes of great skill last season. I think having him spend the majority of his time on the second line to really hone his game will end up being what’s best for his development. Whoever gets paired up with Bedard is going to be seeing the top lines, and it will be a battle. This is the time to give players like Reichel and Kurashev the chance to play against 2nd and 3rd units and really help them get some confidence going out there.
For now, we are just going to have to sit here and speculate until we get to training camp and preseason games. I have never been more ready for the fall to come than I am this year, and I am ready to see the start of the next era of Blackhawks Hockey get underway.
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