Connor Bedard doesn’t know exactly what he’ll be able to do physically when the Chicago Blackhawks open training camp in the fall.
The young star forward is sure of one thing, though. Chicago is interested in nothing other than getting back to the playoffs for the first time since the turn of the decade.
“We want to take a big step this year. We want to be a playoff team and that’s our only goal,” Bedard said Monday in his first meeting with reporters since signing a five-year, $75 million contract extension Saturday.
Bedard, who turned just 21 on Friday, was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2023 and the Calder Memorial Trophy winner the ensuing season as the NHL’s rookie of the year.
Hailed as the top prospect to enter the league since Connor McDavid, Bedard has played three solid seasons for the Blackhawks, collecting career highs in goals (30), assists (45) and points (75) in just 69 games in 2025-26.
One thing the Blackhawks have yet to produce in the Bedard era is a winning season. But they have climbed from 52 points in Bedard’s rookie season to 61 in 2024-25 to 72 last year.
The playoff drought reached six years, dating back to the end of Patrick Kane’s tenure in town. Bedard, though, likes what his franchise did to improve this offseason, starting with the acquisition of Colorado Avalanche defenseman Bowen Byram.
“We’ve had a great, great summer,” Bedard said. “Obviously getting Bo, he’s someone who’s going to be one of the best D-men in the league. He’s always shown that, but when you play behind Cale (Makar) and (Rasmus) Dahlin (with the Sabres), it’s not easy to take their spots, so just for him to have that opportunity to be that one and prove himself in that way and he’s going to do it. He’s one of the most skilled players in the league.”
He also pointed to the additions of veteran forward Jordan Greenway and defenseman Ian Cole, among others.
But one more potential signing would be the biggest splash of all in Chicago: a reunion with Kane.
After the Blackhawks traded Kane to the New York Rangers late in the 2022-23 campaign, the highest-scoring U.S.-born player in NHL history went on to play three seasons with the rival Detroit Red Wings. Kane, still producing goals at 37, is one of the top free agents still available.
“I don’t know what I can say to persuade his decision, but we’d all be so excited to have a player like that but also a guy like that.
“I can’t imagine his first game back at (Chicago), just the reaction he’d get and how much juice that would bring not only to our team but our fans as well. That would be incredible to get to play with him and learn from him.”
Kane underwent surgery for a left shoulder injury on July 8 and was given a four-month timetable for his return. That would place him back on the ice in early November; the regular season begins in late September rather than the usual October start due to the expansion to an 84-game schedule.
Kane didn’t rule out beating the four-month timeline.
“We’ll see,” he said. “… I’m just going to do everything I can day-to-day to try to get back as quick as possible.”
