3 players the Blackhawks should offer contract extensions to on July 1

The Chicago Blackhawks might have plenty of salary cap room, but a majority of the team's funds are going to go to some big-name players on the roster set to end their current contracts.

Of the players the Blackhawks currently have signed, 14 of them are entering a contract season as their current deal expires at the end of the 2025-26 NHL Season. The next year will be make-or-break for general manager Kyle Davidson as he decides who to offer contract extensions to and who to let go, potentially, considering the team's financial constraints.

With that in mind, it is always a good idea to get a head start on roster construction like this, and there are a few candidates for whom Davidson should offer contract extensions on July 1 when the league turns its calendar to the new season.

3 players the Blackhawks should offer contract extensions to as soon as possible.

First up on this list is Connor Bedard. Bedard will be eligible for a contract extension this upcoming season as he enters the final year of his entry-level deal he signed on July 17, 2023.

It is crazy to think that Bedard is already entering the final year of his rookie deal. It feels like it was only yesterday that Chicago won the draft lottery to draft Bedard.

In his first two seasons, Bedard registered 61 points in his rookie year—winning the Calder Trophy along the way— and 67 points last season.

While Bedard's stats might not be the most flashy so far, he is on pace with some other greats in the game. Nathan MacKinnon registered 63 points in his rookie season, Auston Matthews 69, and Patrick Kane 72.

Bedard is going to be a star in Chicago, and this upcoming July, the Hawks will be able to pay him as one.

Connor McDavid signed his second NHL contract five days after his availability to sign an extension opened. On July 5, 2017, the Edmonton Oilers signed McDavid to an eight-year $100 million contract—one he is still playing on as the Oilers compete in the Stanley Cup Finals for the second year in a row.

There is a good chance Chicago will get Bedard's deal done first before any other player, but there are a few interesting core players the team needs to extend.

Frank Nazar is entering the final year of his rookie deal he signed in April of 2024. Nazar's first three NHL games at the tail end of the 2023-24 NHL Season cost him the first year of his rookie contract, but Nazar has come a long way in the past year.

Nazar finished the 2024-25 NHL Season with 12 goals and 26 points in 53 games. After starting the season in the AHL, Nazar earned a spot on the Hawks in the first half of the season.

Nazar was one of the most electric players to close out the regular season, and he had a great showing at the 2025 IIHF World Championship, helping lead the United States to history in the international tournament.

The last player worth mentioning is one Kyle Davidson never drafted. Chicago traded away Seth Jones last season in a deal that just keeps on giving. Not only did it land the Hawks a good draft pick and get rid of a locker room distraction, but it brought in a potential franchise netminder in Spencer Knight.

In 15 games with the Hawks, Knight registered a 3.18 goals against average and a save percentage of .896. Knight was drafted 13th overall in the 2019 NHL draft by the Florida Panthers.

Knight looked to be the Panthers' starting goaltender for years to come until Sergei Bobrovsky rediscovered his game and has led the Panthers to three straight Stanley Cup Finals and one win away from back-to-back Stanley Cup wins.

Faced with a plethora of pending free agents, the Panthers just couldn't afford to hold onto Knight, carrying a cap hit of $4.5 million, for another season.

Knight, 24, will hit restricted free agency at the end of the 2025-26 NHL Season, and if Davidson is smart, he wouldn't let Knight get anywhere close to the end of next season without a contract.

If the Blackhawks believe in Knight, the Hawks should offer him a lengthy contract extension at around $5.5 to 6 million this summer. Obviously, Chicago's management saw something in Knight when they traded for him.

Signing Knight early would give the Hawks some stability in net, a breath of fresh air from the years of two to three goalies battling for the starting job pretty much every year since Corey Crawford left the team at the end of the 2019-20 NHL Season.