Bedard declines to go to Chicago

[Pengwin7]

Imagine it.
Lindros... pt II.

The word leaks out.
Bedard has no intention on joining the Hawks, if drafted.

CHI & Kyle Davidson have to pull off a trade that looks like they were offered a deal good enough to take.
NHL GMs all get wind of it.
They all want Bedard.

What's your best "trade that makes sense"?
Who has the assets?

[Axeman33]

Imagine it.
Lindros... pt II.

The word leaks out.
Bedard has no intention on joining the Hawks, if drafted.

CHI & Kyle Davidson have to pull off a trade that looks like they were offered a deal good enough to take.
NHL GMs all get wind of it.
They all want Bedard.

What's your best "trade that makes sense"?
Who has the assets?

Kings definitely have the assets.

Habs have a good pool. So does CBJ.

[Pengwin7]

^That's the easy part.
You gotta make the trade offer that works for both teams!

[PenguinHunter]

Anaheim Ducks would be my best bet.
Chicago being able to still pick #2 overall
and draft Fantilli would be a key factor.

Other pieces Anaheim would included:

1) One of the the three offensive D prospects:
- Drysdale
- Zellweger
- Mintyukov

The Ducks can afford to give away one of these D prospects because they have three young offensive defensemen.

2) Nathan Gaucher

The Ducks would be adding Bedard as a C and they have Zegras and McTavish that can also play center.

3) Picks

The Ducks have three second round picks this year so they could trade one of them.
The Ducks have three third round picks for next year so they could trade one of them.

Overall Trade

Chicago receives:

#2 Adam Fantilli
One of Drysdale/Mintyukov/Zellweger
Nathan Gaucher
2023 2nd Round Pick - Anaheim's (as it is an early 2nd round pick)
2024 3rd Round Pick - San Jose's pick

Anaheim receives:

#1 Connor Bedard
2023 5th Round Pick
2025 4th Round Pick

[rataylor22]

I don't have any idea why Bedard would do this. You're going to an original 6 market, one of the most successful and historic franchises in history, and if he has any type of success will be one of the richest and most marketable stars of all time in the NHL. While the public might care about the Blackhawks scandal, it sure doesn't seem like a lot of players do.

However if this is just a fun hypothetical, I think the three most likely options would be:

To Anaheim: 2nd overall, Mintyukov, Pastujov, Clang, 2 2nds
To Columbus: 3rd overall, Johnson, Mateychuk, Dumais
To *Wildcard Team*: Next 5 first round picks, unprotected.

[Pengwin7]

Yeah... it's a just for fun exercise.
(I meant no serious tone by it... though I do recognize that's how I'm known. I needed some emojis and some exclamation marks to tone it down!!!)


My own was:
ANA gives: #2 (Fantilli), Zegras, And 2024 1st (or a high-end D prospect)

[LawMan]

I don't see it happening but I love the question so I want to play along, and I'm an Oilers fan so here goes.

The deal is premised around a Draisaitl for Bedard swap.


The Trade
To Edmonton
1st overall - Connor Bedard

To Chicago
Leon Draisaitl
Warren Foegele - 1 year $2.75 million
Oilers 1st round pick in 2023
Oilers 2nd round pick in 2024

McDavid- Draisaitl are the best 1-2 punch in the NHL right now, but the Oilers have cap issues, and the essentially flat cap for the next 2 seasons has created problems. Draisaitl has 2 more seasons at $8.5m before he will command $13m+
The Oilers also get to dump Warren Foegle and his $2.75mil next season. Swapping Leon for an ELC Bedard saves the Oilers approximately $6mil + $2.75 for dumping Foegle maximizes their cap space for the upcoming 2023-24 season. With these dollars they trade for Travis Konecky, who is apparently available, and upgrade their D-core.

The Oilers sell off a majority of their other 1st and 2nd round picks as well as non-NHL ready assets for the next 3 seasons to go "all-in"

The Oilers have a 1-2 punch of Connor-Connor and given that Bedard is on an ELC have a window to win before Bedard becomes very expensive. By the time Bedard's ELC is up the financial damages of covid have been recovered, maybe the Coyotes are less of a gong show, and the cap is up to $100million, that combined with the Stanley Cup win in 2024 allows the Oilers to keep the Connor-Connor combo signed and it becomes the cornerstone of the next NHL dynasty.

Meanwhile, the Blackhawks get a proven Superstar in Draisaitl who finally gets out from McDavid's shadow. While he does not have the same quality of teammates he makes all the players around him better and still puts up many 100 point seasons in Chicago.
Chicago quickens their rebuild around Draisaitl and returns to the playoffs in 2025.

Would either team do it? Probably not.
But that's the best I got.

[Invictus]

Kings definitely have the assets.

Habs have a good pool. So does CBJ.

I'm terrible at making trades...

just want to add that Habs have already been rumored to want to move up.

Not sure I'd want to pay the price tag for Bedard though... could be really scary.

[Molly The Hawks Fan]

Imagine it.
Lindros... pt II.

The word leaks out.
Bedard has no intention on joining the Hawks, if drafted.













CHI & Kyle Davidson have to pull off a trade that looks like they were offered a deal good enough to take.
NHL GMs all get wind of it.
They all want Bedard.

What's your best "trade that makes sense"?
Who has the assets?

I know this is all for the sake of talk and fun, but when I first read this it almost made me throw up. Being a huge Blackhawks fan this sort of scenario would not only devastate me, but also devastate the entire Chicago community. I want him in a Blackhawks jersey for many years to come.

[dejeanneret]

I'm terrible at making trades...

just want to add that Habs have already been rumored to want to move up.

Not sure I'd want to pay the price tag for Bedard though... could be really scary.

May sound harsh, but I doubt the Habs have the horses to get such a deal done even if they wanted to and Chicago was listening.