OverDrive - Bedard on his new contract extension, Patrick Kane returning to Chicago, and expectations for the 2026-27 season

Episode Date: July 24, 2026

Chicago Blackhawks forward Connor Bedard on signing his new extension with his team, his excitement in Patrick Kane signing, his expectations for his on-ice performance this season, and how his rehab has been going this offseason.

All right, we've been talking a lot about the Chicago Blackhawks recently. A lot about them. And yesterday, big news out of Chicago, Patrick Kane, who's making a lot more money than LeBron is. Double. He's making double. And Patty Kane's an all-time great player. LeBron's LeBron, but Pat Kane is making double what LeBron is now making. And do you know a guy who's making almost four times as LeBron?

He joins us now. Here he is from the Chicago Blackhawks. Here's Connor Badd. Connor, have you thought about it that way? you're making four times more money than LeBron James? I actually haven't. That's a great way to look at it. It makes me feel good.

I think his endorsements might be another billion dollars, but I'll take what I can get for sure. That's true. I mean, you can get some shoes or something, right? Like, how does that work with you in the endorsement deals? The sticks, and I'm sure you got a number of them. Like, where do you see that going with your career in terms of what kind of action you can get going on off the ice?

Yeah, I've been, you know, I've been lucky to have a lot of great kind of partnerships in that sense. And, you know, some is pretty cool. You can kind of expand away from hockey a little bit in some ways with, like you said, shoes or clothes or something like that. So it's another obviously cool opportunity we got. So, Connor, take us through your reaction when you found out that one of the great black, of all time and the face of a team or one of the faces of a team that won three Stanley Cups was going to be your teammate. Where were you?

And what were your thoughts? Yeah, I know, I was pretty fired up. You know, you kind of hear, you know, it could happen. And, you know, you're hearing Chicago or Buffalo or whatever. And, you know, you're just kind of praying that he joins us. So, you know, I think probably everyone on the team texted. every other person on the team, how fired up they were. And, you know, just to have something like that,

obviously the legacy portion of it, but just him as a player as well, he's going to add a lot to us. And, you know, we're all thrilled for sure. Yeah, Patrick came back to Chicago. It's pretty, it's very cool. And I know you were on record talking about it the other day when, when you were discussing your own contract and how much fun it would be to play with Kane. Of what you know of his game, you know, if you guys end up playing together,

which I'm sure you will, five on five, certainly on the power play. How do you think Patrick Kane can help you in particular? Oh, yeah. I mean, everyone he's played with, he's made him better. And obviously probably the best hands ever in history of hockey. And, you know, one of the best passes, some of the best IQ. And, you know, so I think, obviously, if it's me, if it's, you know,

whoever's playing on his line, it's going to, you know, make that player so much better. just because the way he kind of controls the game and can freeze guys and make plays. So, you know, I would be, I'd be very lucky to get to, you know, get some passes from them for sure. It's been a pretty wild summer in the NHL on the business side, Connor, with that huge earth-shaking offer sheet that got Leo Carlson a $18 million A-AV, the highest paid player in the league now. I was wondering, you know, when you went into negotiations and finalize your deal for three times as much as, or four times as much as LeBron James, you know, how much did that contract come into play? Because, I mean, there were people thinking you could play a little bit of hardball here and say, I'm probably worth what Leo Carlson's worth, if not a little more. You know, how much did that influence your thought process when it came to negotiations? Yeah, not at all, to be honest with you.

For me, I kind of let them know from the start and offer she wasn't something I was ever going to do. I think, not that there's anything wrong with that. I'm extremely happy for Leo. And, you know, he's an amazing player. And he's going to be worth more than that, you know. But just for me, the risk of not being a Blackhawk wasn't worth any amount of money.

So, you know, they knew that. And we, I didn't want to change just because that, because that happened. Obviously, it's a different scenario with the offer sheet. We had good conversations the whole time throughout. So we're happy. Happy where we landed, and I think both sides feel good about it. With Connor Bardard, how do you think, you know, now you're going into year four,

you're the highest paid guy on the team, you know, and obviously the market loves you, the team loves you. Like, where do your expectations for yourself go from here? Like, how does it change, you know, what you expect out of your? yourself going into next year and I guess over the next five? Yeah, I mean, I think my expectations of myself are always high. It's not whether you know, you're on an ELC or making, you know, 15. It's not something to think about during the game.

You want to be the best you can possibly be. And of course, it is an added pressure to make that kind of money. And there's even higher expectations. And, you know, that's something that everyone's aware of. But to have that pressure is obviously, you know, privilege and the support I've gotten from the fans and just a belief in Kyle and Danny and everyone in the organization to put a commitment to me like that,

just gives you so much confidence. And, you know, just so grateful to be here. And, you know, like I said, have that confidence in the team. You had such a great season last year, and especially, you know, before you hurt your shoulder. And we had you on the show, I want to say last November. and we asked you about the Olympic team, and obviously you said you'd do anything to be on it.

And I remember the three of us that are usually on the show, we were all advocating for you to be on it because you were playing so well. How close did you feel you were to make in that Olympic team? Yeah, I don't know. I think when I was, I got hurt early mid-December. Obviously not the best timing, but I think when I was playing,

I kind of felt like there was a chance. but once I got hurt it kind of seemed maybe less of a chance and there were so many maybe players in similar positions to me that were already on the team well-deserved you know you look at the right-handed players forwards that would be in similar roles that were already kind of making the team so you know obviously there's hope but you know I was pretty 50-50 on it if I made it or not and obviously you're disappointed in the moment

but you understand it's a lot of a lot of great Canadian players. Connor, you're dealing with the shoulder through this offseason on the rehab trail? What's that been like and how are you feeling about the prognosis going forward for the season? Yeah, it's been good. You know, it's a frustrating thing at the time. But I don't want to pour my energy into negativity and just try to, obviously, I mean, I'm probably busier now than before I got hurt just was trying to do everything I can to

get back as soon as possible and just get back to play and you know especially when we haven't we haven't played a game for three or four months you just miss it so much and you know that's that's all I want to do so I'm just kind of you know trying to do everything I can to obviously get back safe but but get back as soon as possible well we're looking forward to that too I mean it'll be August next week you know like camps opening up pretty quickly what is your usual routine I know it's going to be thrown off a little bit because of the surgery and everything but do you like to get into Chicago pretty early and get together with the guys and do you still intend on kind of going through with the same game plan even if you can't be full

activities yeah yeah I mean we I think once camp usually like mid-September September 20thish so I think we all kind of head up there first week of September and hang out and stuff and obviously you go off and we'll be able to do that but but by then I'll be you know on the ice and kind of more more full-ish go in the gym. So it'll be good. I can kind of get this, you know, eight-ish weeks after the surgery being at home and just kind of,

you know, you're not able to do as much. You're just kind of trying to get it back. And then once I'm back with the team, I can be able to do a little more. So it makes you feel a little more, you know, involved. Obviously, when you're hurt, you're kind of, you know, off to the side a little bit, trying to just rehab. But if I can, you know, do some stuff with the team,

that's obviously nice. Yeah, Chicago and September has got the chance to be electric, too, with the Bears winning the division last year. The Cubs and White Sox are really good right now. Like, do you just dive right into Chicago? Do you get a chance to kind of jump around town and check out the other teams or what? Yeah, for sure.

I think probably the first thing we always do there is the Cubs game, like on a weekend or something, and hang out in that area. It's always kind of buzzing there. lot of fun with those and then I think I've been to bears every year and you know just kind of it's exciting now with how good they are and then the bulls that kind of they dropped it looks pretty sick so and then caner's caner's back so it should be pretty electric in Chicago for the year it's going to be a good time to be in Chicago absolutely well congrats on the on the new deal the new teammate good luck

with the rehab and everything and we'll catch up once the season gets started thank you for doing this Awesome, yeah, thank you. Hope you guys enjoy the rest of the summer. You got it. There's Connor Bedard, the Chicago Blackhawks. I'm Cynthia Lois, and I'm Josie Dye. And we're done pretending we have it all figured out. Each week we laugh, cry, and talk our way through life's messiest moments.

The things you think about but would never say out loud. The questions you are always too shy to ask. Relationships, regrets, awkward moments, and the stuff no one warns you about. It's honest, it's funny, and sometimes it gets a little uncomfortable. But that's kind of the point. At the end, Josie's unmentionables. Listen on the free IHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.