The annual free-agent frenzy is shaping up to be a spectacular spree of ill-advised spending, as the rising salary cap has given teams a ton of money to play with and very few worthwhile players to spend it on. Even before Alex Tuch and Darryn Raddysh came off the board, this was arguably the worst free-agent class in modern NHL history. But that won’t stop teams from spending big money on the likes of Mason Marchment and Michael Bunting.Instead, the trade market is where the talent is. Zach Werenski, Jason Robertson, Dylan Larkin and Connor Hellebuyck top Chris Johnston’s latest trade board, and all of them could be moved at any moment.Will the Blackhawks be major players on either front? Well, they already made a big trade, sending the No. 4 pick in this past weekend’s draft to Buffalo, along with a second-rounder and Louis Crevier, for defenseman Bowen Byram. But that doesn’t mean they can’t make another splash, unlikely as it might be.“We’re definitely looking to make some stuff happen,” general manager Kyle Davidson said. “Again, I stand up here a lot and say I’m open to it. Again, it’s got to make sense, fit for both sides, and you’ve got to accomplish (something) for the other team as well. So, we continue to have those discussions. We do have a lot of good assets. I think we’ve showed we’ve kind of taken a different route where we’re not afraid to use some of these high-valued assets to bring in some players who we think can be with us for a long time.”With that in mind, let’s take a look at what is — and what could be — on Davidson’s to-do list as the league calendar flips ahead to the 2026-27 season on Wednesday.Connor Bedard’s contractThe one certainty of the Blackhawks’ offseason is Connor Bedard signing a new contract. The unknown, though, is for how long and how much.If the Blackhawks had their way, Bedard would be signing for eight years with a cap hit not far above $10 million. Based on AFP Analytics’ contract projections, Bedard would get around $12.3 million on an eight-year deal and about $9.3 million on a three-year deal.Bedard can probably seek something more than $12 million on a long-term deal and be justified. The Athletic’s Dom Luszczyszyn has his market value at more than $14 million.Bedard said earlier this offseason he was open to negotiating anytime, but negotiations have dragged. Bedard’s agents may want to see if players such as Macklin Celebrini and Leo Carlsson agree to extensions this summer and compare those to what Bedard can get.