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Blackhawks<\/a> star Connor Bedard will spend most of this summer training back home in Vancouver, as usual.<\/p>\n Exactly what will that training consist of? Well, Bedard kept details hazy about his focus last summer on skating and speed, and he hasn\u2019t even specified a broad focus like that for this summer. He said Monday it will be \u201cnothing crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n Then again, his contract negotiations will get far more attention than his training this summer anyway.<\/p>\n Hawks general manager Kyle Davidson and Bedard\u2019s agents, Don Meehan and Greg Landry, decided to wait until after the season to begin that process. Meehan said Monday he expects negotiations to start \u201csometime in May.\u201d<\/p>\n Without question, a contract will get worked out eventually. Bedard would officially become a restricted free agent July 1, but that wouldn\u2019t change things, especially since he doesn\u2019t have arbitration rights.<\/p>\n The NHL\u2019s maximum contract length permanently decreases from eight years to seven starting Sept. 16, and training camps also begin around that time, so mid-September can be considered a de facto deadline to get things done. But it would be surprising if it took that long.<\/p>\n Bedard\u2019s decision to differ from Frank Nazar<\/a> and Spencer Knight and wait until this summer to sign an extension has paid off. <\/p>\n His improvement<\/a> this season \u2014 in terms of production (73 points in 67 games entering Monday), defensive attentiveness and off-ice leadership \u2014 has raised his value.<\/p>\n Only six forwards since 2012 have recorded 200 points over their first three NHL seasons, and it\u2019s an impressive list: Bedard, Kirill Kaprizov, Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid and Artemi Panarin.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a good chance Bedard will be named Hawks captain before next season, too.<\/p>\n \u201cWe obviously saw his play, but his voice and his ability to command that room and be a presence within the room really took a step forward,\u201d Davidson said in March. \u201cYou feel it when you\u2019re around him. You see it when the group is just hanging out around the rink or on the road. He\u2019s a guy who people gravitate toward.\u201d<\/p>\n So what will Bedard\u2019s next contract look like? Enormous, that\u2019s for sure.<\/p>\n The skyrocketing salary cap has already led to some mind-blowing deals around the league, and Meehan and Landry have established reputations in preliminary talks as tough negotiators.<\/p>\n The contract\u2019s term might be even more important than its financials. The Hawks would love to secure Bedard for eight years. That probably is the most likely outcome, but his camp could push for a five-year deal that would give him an opportunity for an even bigger payday as an unrestricted 26-year-old, for example.<\/p>\n On the money front, the Hawks will remind Bedard that the more reasonable he\u2019s willing to be, the more salary-cap space will be available for them to bring in (and retain) talent around him \u2014 and the more successful, in theory, the franchise will be.<\/p>\n