A major move is set to take place involving Chicago Blackhawks' Connor Bedard on July 1st

NHL contracts end on July 1st, and that is when teams have the opportunity to begin inking their free agents (UFAs & RFAs ) to new deals.

A neat little fact is that through July, players' contracts who expire in 2026 can also negotiate extensions.

The Blackhawks have a plethora of free agents they'll have to deal with come July 1st. That includes Connor Bedard, Frank Nazar, and Ilya Mikheyev, just to name a few.

The main player the Blackhawks will have to focus on in July is Connor Bedard, who could begin contract negotiations then.

Bedard is the main RFA of the group to address, as an elite superstar in the NHL, he will be able to command a nice contract after his multiple 60+ point seasons, and a Calder Trophy to his name.

The Blackhawks have a sizeable amount of cap space available to them, in total: $30.9 million.

Giving them a good amount to pay their future 1C, Connor Bedard with. Earlier in the year, The Athletic's Scott Powers and Mark Lazerus felt that Bedard could ask upwards of $17 million AAV per season.

But since Bedard is a team player, we're skeptical if he'd ask for that much. Maybe it'll be around $10-13 million to start.

Either way, if you're going to anchor your team off of someone like Bedard, you better keep him happy and paid.