Elliotte Friedman Reveals Chicago Blackhawks Tried to Land Stanley Cup Champion to Pair with Bedard

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Tom Banks
October 10, 2024 (6:21 PM)

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The Chicago Blackhawks are desperate to put talent around Connor Bedard, and now a top insider has revealed they targeted Jake Guentzel this past summer.

Last year, the Chicago Blackhawks landed Connor Bedard with the No. 1 overall pick, and since that point, General Manager Kyle Davidson has been looking to add elite level players around his potentially generational star.

In the summer, the team would end up landing the likes of Teuvo Teravainen, Tyler Bertuzzi, Alec Martinez and TJ Brodie, but according to a surprise report from top NHL Insider Elliotte Friedman, they originally had a much bigger target in mind.

"Like the Ducks, Chicago also took some big swings this summer -- making googly eyes at Jake Guentzel, who ultimately chose Tampa Bay. They found different help for Bedard, and it's a deeper roster."

In his report, Friedman revealed that the team made a run at former Stanley Cup Champion Jake Guentzel, but ultimately, the 29-year old ended up choosing the potential of chasing another Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning. Over the next few years, players such as Kirill Kaprisov, Mitch Marner, Brock Boeser and Mikko Rantanen will all potentially become free agents, and given the team's desire to put a winner around their young star, it's safe to say that they'll be in on all of them.

It's still early in the 2024/25 season, and Bedard is showing even more improvement from a year ago, and if the19-year old continues on this trajectory, he could eventually convince star players to join him in Chicago. For now however, things don't look great for Chicago, who have very little talent around their young star, but as this report shows, they're trying hard to make it happen.