NHL Rumors: Who Extends First

Will Connor Bedard Wait for Leo Carlsson To Extend First or Vice Versa?

Dave Pagnotta of The Fourth Period joined Sirius XM NHL Network Radio on Thursday with Steve Kouleas and Craig Button. Pagnotta was asked who would sign first: Leo Carlsson with the Anaheim Ducks or Connor Bedard with the Chicago Blackhawks.

NHLRumors.com Transcriptions

Craig Button: “Okay, so we talked about that, and you know, a benchmark now is what they just paid Jackson Lacombe. So your own contracts that you’ve given now become the best comparables for how you’re going forward. Well, I’m going to ask you the elephant in the room. So who’s waiting for whom? Is Carlsson waiting for Bedard? Is Bedard waiting for Carlsson?”

NHL Rumors: The Chicago Blackhawks, and Connor Bedard

Dave Pagnotta: “Yeah, good point. I don’t, like, I feel those negotiations, I believe, are ongoing in terms of actually trying to hammer something out between Chicago and Bedard. I don’t think it’s a matter really, of who’s going to be first versus second. I think both their teams, both Chicago and Anaheim, respectively, understand the special players that they’ve got and just how much these guys are going to really be leading the charge for their clubs moving forward.

So is it, if anything, comparable with respect to just what the final number is going to be? We’ll see, kind of, obviously, where that all factors in. But I don’t think this is a scenario where, like, all the guys that were pending UFAs or eligible to become UFAs were next summer. We’re waiting on (Kirill) Kaprizov to really get the ball rolling. I don’t think it’s a matter of that. I don’t think that has much of an impact on these guys.

Just because both are at the top of the league in points, they both mean a lot to their teams. They’re coming out of their ELC, they’re going to be in this league for a long time, and presumably stars for a long time. Both are going to get, I would imagine, a pretty hefty contracts and pretty deserving ones. And it seems like their teams are more than comfortable with dishing that out.”

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