OverDrive - Johnson on Ehlers signing with the Hurricanes, Bedard's contract value and McDavid's impending deal

Episode Date: July 3, 2025

TSN Hockey Analyst Mike Johnson joined OverDrive to discuss the headlines around the NHL, Nikolaj Ehlers signing with the Hurricanes and his role of the team, the Eastern Conference landscape, Connor Bedard's potential contract value, the Maple Leafs targeting a top-six forward, Connor McDavid's impending deal with the Oilers and more.

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The station that champions Canadian music. Loud, proud, and all yours. No passports required. Just press play. Tap into Made in Canada now on iHerb radio.ca or the free iHeart radio app The maple Toyota hotline. I would guess from the dock up in Muskoka. MJ. How we doing? I am well listen for you AK

I would be the president and continue to do my hits with you every week. Really? Wow That's what I'm willing to do for my hat in the ring for the Raptors presidency. I can make it happen I have a great vision for how they should play the basketball club. Yes, I wouldn't doubt that for a second What what did your vision tell you Mike about Nick Ehlers? Did you see him landing in Carolina and for the money he ultimately received which is a six-year deal? 8.5 million dollars a season that announced about an hour ago. So it seemed like all signs pointed to him going to Carolina that's what the chatter was on July 1. Seemed like he wanted to play for a good team, check. Seemed like he wanted to get a good contract, check. And he wanted to play in a place that was pretty low profile away from the

rink. And I guess Carolina is that as well. And I think we can ask, Oh, he played in Carolina, but you know, even Winnipeg, which is a smaller town, but certainly the jets are extremely popular. There was maybe a little bit too much sort of limelight for him. So, you know, for whatever reason, personality wise, he wanted to get away from that sort of idea thatight for him. So, you know, for whatever reason, personality wise, he wanted to get away from that sort of idea that would prevent him from going to the Rangers or the Flyers or the Leafs or somewhere like that.

So Carolina made sense. But my question is, AK, you're Nick Ehlers. You are far and away the best player in this pre-agent class after Marner signed with Vegas. Why just six years? Where's the seventh year? I guess that part, maybe he doesn't care, maybe he wants flexibility. I would have thought given the demand for his

services, that salary seems about right. You know, he's a better offensive player than Brock Bester. He should get paid a million dollars more than Brock Bester or whatever it is. But I'm surprised he didn't get a seventh year because that seems like, you know, leaving eight and a half million dollars on the table you might only make three or four by that point in your career when you resign that next year. So that part surprised me a little bit. Yeah, no, interesting point MJ for sure. Now if you look at the competitive balance of the Eastern Conference here MJ and this Carolina Hurricane team has been to two of the past three Eastern Finals and they've been among the best teams in the regular season for a long time now under Rod Britton Moore, but they haven't been able to get over the hump and especially this year where they were reallyseason headlined by the Ehlers The Ehlers signing and obviously getting Kay Andre Miller on the back end in another big deal Do you like any of that in terms of making their case to be unseating the Panthers any better? I

Like their team Do I think they are demonstrably better than last year? They probably are. They probably are a little bit better. They needed an offensive weapon. They got a really good one. And last year, Brent Burns wasn't quite the same player he's been in the past. And Orlov also on the back end. So maybe Kay Andre Miller replacing some version of those guys makes them a bit better. I don't think fast that they are in Florida's league right now just yet if I if you had to handicap it

but if you had to look at the Metro right now today and Guarantee that one team would make the playoffs from that group You'd pick Carolina for sure If you a hundred percent you the Devils will probably be pretty good you'd think and you know, Washington You know, they have quite the same year Probably not the one team you will say confidently in the regular season is Likely to get home ice likely to probably even win the division is Carolina You know the same sort of questions a lot like Toronto will come up during the playoffs because they haven't gotten over the hump

They've gotten further more often than the Leafs certainly have but but they haven't gotten that last one. But I still like their team as one of the better teams in the league. Certainly one of the best teams in the East. And you know, if they run into Florida in the third round, I would pick Florida to win if Florida was healthy, but that's probably the case for every team in the Eastern Conference. Mike Johnson, our guest here on Hour 2 of Overdrive. The Chicago Blackhawks have opened extension talks with Connor Bedard per general manager Kyle Davidson and Feshek and I were trying to figure out what that deal is going to look like. He's 19 years old, had two 60-plus point seasons. How do you come

to a number if you're Bedard's agent and Kyle Davidson, Mike? So I guess what Davidson is saying is like, listen, we obviously want to extend them for as long as possible. We're gonna pitch you on eight years, which you probably won't be able to get after next summer because of the new CBA kicking in. So we'll get to that eighth year. And Davidson quietly would be saying, well maybe we'll buy some years coming off good seasons but not great, not for the club and not necessarily even for Connor Bedard where he wasn't you know as dominant in year two as maybe people

thought he might be. So if you can get him on a deal that becomes a pretty good value deal in short order if he hits his potential and if he hits his ceiling which you know is 40 goals and 90 or 100 points, if he does that, then all of a sudden you got him at eight or $9 million. That's this field with the cap going where it is. If you're Badaard's agent, this is the problem, AK. I got two issues. One, I know that as well, that my guy,

under different circumstance, could get way more points and look way better than he has, so I don't wanna give him too much of a discount. I want him to get paid like a top off as a player, even if he hasn't produced it like one yet. And the other thing is, well, yes, eight years is amazing. I am, me personally, I'm not one to ever scoff at somebody saying I'll take the $80 million.

Does he wanna commit added potential UFA years to Chicago? That team feels like they're not very good still, right? Like it feels like they're just, you know, they're not going to be very good. They're just going to hope that all their draft picks and their prospects, maybe just turn into star players at the same time,

but they haven't really taken strides, I don't think to get significantly better than even they were last year. So can you get him to commit? If I'm, but our agent, I didn't have to have a conversation with Connor Bedard about, you know, do you want to lock yourself in until you're 28, 29 years old with Chicago or do you want to wait until you're 25,

see where they're at, see where you're at? You're still going to be a great player and get lots of money, but maybe you want to get it somewhere else. That's the issue for me. If Chicago can get them for eight years, that would be a coup for the Blackhawks. Yeah, I don't know how, like, if I'm Bidard,

there's no way I'm going eight years after this. I can't think so, right? There's just no way. And I'm not even sure I would negotiate anything this summer either. I mean, there's no rush. You don't have to do it this summer. Yeah, but AK, look at their team.

If you're Bidard, you're being honest. Like, okay, you're gonna get better. You look at that team. They didn't a Badaar, if you're being honest, like, okay, you're gonna get better. You look at that team. They didn't do anything. Anything in the off-season, nothing. Right. Is the infrastructure gonna be so much stronger that I'll look better?

I won't be minus 35, I'll have a ton of support, we'll have a puck a lot. Like, do you add to the state a 90-point season for him? Not because he can't do it, but maybe because the team around him isn't putting him in the right spots to be able to do it So whether you wait it now or next year, I'm looking at the team saying No, he had been

Whenever they think of you and your potential now they'll think of it again and in fact If you do a third year, let's say to the to the two of you Boudard goes for 33 goals and gets 74 points next year. Would you be super impressed by that, by Connor Bedard? Or would it be like, yeah, I mean, it's not bad, but it's not what we think he can do. So yeah, right, so you kind of would be underwhelmed by that. So where's the impetus for him to not do it now, to whatever the extension might be,

whether it's three years, four years, two years two years whatever it is because I don't see it in him blowing the roof off it next year largely because the team once again will not be that competitive. MJ been a couple days now since Mitch Martyr lands in Vegas and the Leafs are kind of left trying to fill the big hole on their wing. If the season had to start today you just looked at what they've done so far getting back Nick Waa in the deal with the Golden Knights bringing in Matthias Michelli as a playmaking player. How would you feel about it?

How much more does tree-living have to do to make you feel at ease? Or at least you know feel better about you know them being a You know an equivalent and hopefully slightly better team going into next season He's got to do a little bit more obviously he's acknowledged that there is a top six forward missing more, obviously. He's acknowledged that there is a top six forward missing and for all the DNA discussion there hasn't been there's been a massive removal but there hasn't been a real injection of anything different than what was there previously, respectful to Michele and Roy. Like they're not gonna come in

and shake up the room and this is gonna we're doing it different here boys. So yeah I mean I think I think it was always gonna be really tough to face what the Leafs were facing this summer, which was the departure of Marner, the contracts with Tavares and Knives, and this desire to significantly alter the way the team looks and feels. To do all that in, you know, six weeks, eight weeks, whatever it was, and they did a good job with the contracts. Marner left, they haven't necessarily filled his void and they haven't necessarily changed the DNA. They will probably work through that through time.

But I guess what you're hoping for is one, good health from both goalies will help you. A second year under Craig Barube will help you. And maybe most importantly, I can't overstate this. Like the, and maybe there's a little problem in the pressure. Austin Matthews has to be one of the top four players in NHL next year. He's paid like it, he's talented enough to be that, and he has to do it without his running mate Mitch Marner. You want to know where the new offense is coming from, where are they going to make up the goals, that's the guy. There has to be 20 to 30 more goals

off Austin Matthews stick next year and if that's the case then you know you can have that conversation as the year goes on what else you need but the Leafs should be in really good shape. You know Spotlight will shine on him, he's the captain as it should, he's gonna have to be really good for the Leafs to absorb the changes and the departure of Mitch Marner. Mike Johnson our guest with Ehlers off the board MJ perhaps we could look ahead to some of the contract extensions that can now be offered by NHL teams names like Jack Eichel, Kaprizov in Minnesota, Kyle Connor in Winnipeg, Artemi Panarin in New York.

Of course Connor McDavid would fall into that camp as well. How soon, if at all, are you expecting some of those decisions to come down and what's the number you think that would surprise us the most with any of those guys? I mean I would imagine if you're any of those clubs and you just mentioned some of the most important players and every one of their Teams would be desperate To extend those guys desperate not up to not hopeful desperate and I think the one that might surprise us Is Capri's off in Minnesota? Because before he was hurt last year. He was playing at an MVP level

There is no player Maybe not even Connor McDavid, who means more to his team offensively than Kaprizov does, right? Like, you know, he's got Boldy there, but he doesn't have Dries Seidel there. And Minnesota has been in cap purgatory because of the buyouts of Parize and Suiter,

which are finally over. So they have all this extra money with the cap going up. And Minnesota is a great passionate hockey market, but maybe not the biggest bustling metropolis. If you wanted that kind of thing, like a Paneran when he left Columbus for New York and if Capri's off wanted a New York, a Toronto, a South Florida, an LA, he could get a ton of money there.

So I almost think there might be a bit of Minnesota tax on top of his contract. It wouldn't surprise me if he becomes when he signs his the highest paid player in the league and Maybe even buy a bit of a margin over top of dry settle until McDavid signs his extension I would not surprise me if he pushes 15 or more For Capri's off when he gets it when he gets the deal done for all the reasons I just sort of outlined. That's an interesting one MJ. Now AK and I were having this conversation yesterday about McDavid like obviously it makes a lot of sense to take an eight-year deal for security

and for any number of reasons to help lower your AAV and being a teammate but if you were being cutthroat like an NBA guy you know if you're and for any number of reasons to help lower your AAV and being a teammate. But if you were being cutthroat, like an NBA guy, you know, we're talking about you running the Raptors, if you're running Connor McDavid's career with an NBA lens and you say, you're the LeBron of this league, you should take a shorter term deal,

A, because you can get a really good deal, and B, you can keep pressure on management to make sure they build the roster around you that you need to win your cup. Is there anything to that in your mind? For sure and I, you know, the NBA example is, I guess, an obvious one and, you know, they, NBA players are more willing to go short term, more to switch teams if I'm Connor McDavid you want to go down that road and and I and it makes a lot of sense because the money's gonna he's There's not as much risk other than you know catastrophic injury for him to not be the best player in two years, right? It's not like he's coming off a hot year He's like, oh you got to get it now because what if you don't score a hundred points?

But I'm going to no matter what drysettle is gonna be there, he's going to. If I'm his representative, could you walk in and say, all right, we'll give you an extension, two years, 32 million. Right. That's what you get, that's going up, percentage of the cap is still a very manageable and appropriate number, and we're gonna put it on you

for two more years to make sure he's got a great team around him. And we're being fair, and he produces every year, he brings it every year, he's the best player every year, you got to bring it in the offseason. You got to put together a team. That is your job as management to put together a team that is capable to win the Stanley Cup and all the pieces without my guy taking a massive discount. That's not his responsibility. It's your responsibility to figure it out around him.

Who we are gonna give you then, that would be what, fear entry level deal, eight year extension, two year extension. That's 13 years of his career he's gonna give you. That's more than enough time and plenty of loyalty from him. Who you're 32, make it happen. If we're good, you get to have him for seven years after that.

Yeah, I love it MJ. Makes a lot of sense to me. That's a man that could be a president of an organization one day. That should be an agent. I love that, I love that pitch. That was a very good pitch. Mike, great stuff.

And the best part about it guys though, is Edmonton can't say anything about it. What's that mean they can't say no? No, that's sick. Like they can't say no. We prefer you go longer. We prefer you to have less money I mean David calls the shots you could prefer to watch me walk next summer. Yeah, they're basically Behold into his good graces to not not do anything You don't want him to do because if you wanted to you're gonna do it anyways

Mike thank you for doing this. Can you take us through what's going on up at the cottage tonight? Campfire, barbecue, fill us in. I'm here, it is quiet, the waves are rustling. I've just, I literally set my alarm for 4.55 because I had a little nap in the Muskoka room with the breeze rolling through. And the sun will set, I will watch watch it go down I got me and my dog

and it is blissfully quiet with nothing going on it's amazing that sounds very nice that's good yeah well we're here at TSN we're you know it's really clean in the studio here so you know well I was watching you as I before I with with wit yeah before I went before I drifted off so I was watching all right we appreciate that yeah well once Wilton coverage wrapped up which you know I'm always into and then yeah this is it like this is me for the next two and a half months basically just kind of chilling and relaxing and and and recharging for next fall which will be here sadly almost that's before

we know it that's good living Koliakuo is making his way up north, I've heard, so the blissful quiet is about to end. You'll be hearing, bang! Very soon, so get ready for it. We don't bring fishing rods to the golf course. No, well, you might see it on Tuesday. Thank you, Mike. All right, boys. Have a great weekend.

That's Mike Johnson, TSN Hockey Analyst. The biggest songs in the world. You've heard them countless times now. Alright boys, have a great week. That's Mike Johnson, TSN Hockey Analyst. The biggest songs in the world. You've heard them countless times. Now, learn the details of how they came to be. Join Ruby Carr for Encore, the stories behind the songs you love. New interviews and newly unearthed archive footage make for a fascinating weekly deep dive. Stream Encore, the stories behind the songs you love on IHAR radio or wherever you get your podcasts.