Connor Bedard will make more money in five years than Ivan Demidov did in nine years

Félix Forget
Connor Bedard will make more money in five years than Ivan Demidov did in nine years
Credit: Capture d'écran/Twitter

Connor Bedard has officially signed a contract for the upcoming season. The Blackhawks forward has signed a five-year deal that will pay him $15 million per year.

That's a pretty colossal sum, let's be honest.

So we're talking about a $75 million deal for Bedard, who will be in Chicago through 2031. And it's interesting to compare this deal to that of Ivan Demidov, who signed his contract a little over two weeks ago.

As we know, Demidov signed an eight-year deal in Montreal. But what's interesting is that this contract will pay him a total of $73.2 million.

And unlike Bedard, for whom the Blackhawks purchased just one year of full free agency, the Habs purchased three years for Demidov. Generally, the more years of full free agency purchased, the higher the total amount… but if we look at these two deals, that's not the case.

And if we're willing to dig a little deeper, we can also note that Demidov still has one year left on his entry-level contract, which pays him $940,833 in guaranteed salary.

Basically, Bedard will make more money ($75 million) in five years than Demidov ($74.15 million)… in nine years.

It's worth noting that Demidov, if he earns all his performance bonuses this year, could receive up to an additional $3 million. That said, it seems unlikely he'll earn more than $1 million in bonuses (if he does earn more, it's because he'll have been one of the NHL's top forwards in 2026–27)… and those bonuses aren't guaranteed money.

If he gets injured and/or underperforms, for example, he risks not receiving them.

Once again, this shows just how much Demidov's contract is one of the best deals signed this summer. The Habs were proactive in this matter, and it likely saved them a lot of headaches.

Imagine if Demidov had wanted to wait a bit before signing: the bill could have been a lot steeper following the contracts signed by Bedard and Leo Carlsson (even though those two, unlike Demidov, had the leverage of being eligible to sign a hostile offer).


In a nutshell

– Makes sense.

– Phew.

– Wow!

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