As the Blackhawks continue to stumble through the last half of the 2024-25 season, the attention of Chicago is beginning to turn toward this summer. The summer window is always an important one for rebuilding teams, but could be even more for the Blackhawks. Chicago has decisions to make on nine pending free agents, and will have to resign some of them before then. The team could even extend some of their biggest names, with Connor Bedard being eligible for a second contract on July 1. There’s no doubt the team will be looking to lock him up as soon as possible, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if Bedard signed an extension on that date.

With so much focus on upcoming contracts for the Blackhawks, the team is working to make those contracts as cheap and efficient as possible, and hired just the man for the job. Former Wild assistant GM Chris O’Hearn is now Chicago’s vice president of hockey operations.

O’Hearn isn’t just another hire – as a former attorney, he specializes in contract negotiations and the CBA. He and Minnesota mutually agreed to part ways at the end of 2023, but in his time there, he was the “chief contract negotiator” under general manager Bill Guerin. The man is obviously pretty good at what he does.

O’Hearn also comes at a perfect time for the Blackhawks because of the news already happening around the league. There’s an increasingly large chance that the salary cap will go up significantly as early as next season, with the potential number approaching $95 million or even higher – a big jump from the current $88 million limit. We’re also beginning to see a rise in creative contracts, with teams deferring payments to lower their cap hits.

But there’s also a reason the Blackhawks were the team to go get him. Bedard will likely be signing a big deal this summer, and it’ll be tricky for Chicago to negotiate a number of other big raises. Arvid Soderblom, Wyatt Kaiser and Louis Crevier are among the young players who should be back on bigger deals. There’s no question having a strong contract specialist will help make that task a bit easier, and if he can open up a bit of space under the cap, O’Hearn will be one of the most popular hockey names in Chicago.

It’s unclear how the hierarchy will work – will O’Hearn function more as an advisor or have more power? Either way, adding another strong mind, especially on the salary cap side, can’t hurt.