The Chicago Blackhawks Have the Capital to Acquire Players, and Connor Bedard Needs a Deal

It’s still hard for the Chicago Blackhawks to attract top players … Could they target Matthew Knies if he becomes available?

Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on 32 Thoughts: The Podcast – Who’s Out, Who’s In: Full Breakdown Episode, on the Chicago Blackhawks. It is not easy to attract top free agents at this time, so they may have to look to the trade market. If he is made available, Matthew Knies may be considered.

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“Now, a couple of years ago, they took a shot at (Jake) Guentzel. At that point, is Guentzel going to Chicago, or is he going to Tampa? He wants to win. He’s going to Tampa.

That’s it, it’s going to be difficult for them until you match, like the Quinn Hughes thing this year, every player has seen it. He was not happy in his situation. You put yourself in a position to win. Top players want to win.

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Chicago was at the bottom of their cycle. You know, it’s hard to get those guys to come to you when you’re like that. That’s why I think they tried, but they haven’t won those battles yet. I think they are looking to make some trades. I don’t think they like the prices.

For me, an interesting guy would be a guy like (Matthew) Knies. If he really is still here, I could see Chicago being the type of team that could be, what do we have to do to get that?

But then again, they got another top pick this year. They finished 31, so the lowest, the lowest would be Kyle one. They got another very good player. I just think that they believe that as long as this is as difficult as this is, they are, they have a very small team, and they still believe that it will work, even if it’s not as fast as everyone might like.

And you know what, they’ll have the money to get the boys. They get a lot of choice. They had high hopes. And, you know, I don’t know how much you watched (Anton) Frondell, but I can see why that guy was at the top of the pile. As he is there, there is a really good player there.”

Connor Bedard needs a new contract

Kyle Bukauskas: “Absolutely, how do you think they’re going to proceed with Bedard’s new contract?

Friedman: “You know, that’s a good question. I think they ran it last year. I think everybody wanted to wait and see how the market would go. Like, if you’re in Chicago, you get into that. Like, I always say, if you have a guy like that, you pay him as much as you can for as long as you can. Like, the price never goes down.

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But the market has reset, right? Like, it was Kaprizov. I think they are watching him. I don’t think, I don’t think Bedard will be doing 17, but you know what they were probably, what they were looking at last year, and I’d bet it was eight figures. Like, this is my personal opinion, based on what I’ve heard out there. It was like a low figure of eight. But now it’s different. And you know, we’ll see there, we’ll see where we’re going.”

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