The Athletic mentioned 11 players who signed contracts which took at least 13 percent of their team's cap space at the time of their signings, guessing Bedard will join that group

"We have star players, too, that don’t seem to be protected as well as some of the other teams’ stars," Blackhawks captain Foligno said.

The Chicago Blackhawks have seen a nice uptick in production from their young star Connor Bedard following a goal scoring drought in November. The phenom currently has 13 goals and 30 assists for a total of 43 points through 49 games in his second NHL season.