OverDrive - Strudwick on where he sees the Leafs heading into the season, how he sees things playing out with McDavid, and the new contract expectations in the NHL

Episode Date: October 1, 2025

Jason Strudwick on where he sees the Leafs heading into the season, how he sees things playing out with Connor McDavid, and the new contract expectations in the NHL

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Yeah, that's the question. And as of day one, it'll be Max Stomi. All right, joining us on the Maple Toyota Hotline. Here's our main man, Jason Strudwick. How are you doing, Struddy? Oh, great, boys. How are you doing? Well, we're doing well.

We're talking about the top line here in Toronto. Everything's very positive here in Toronto. I'm not sure you believe that or not. But where do you stand on the lease less than a week away from go time? Well, I think they should all be uneasy because it's part of it. And he affected and touched so many parts of the game that now, you know, there's a lot of people that and we have to kind of do what he did before, try to fill in, because no one guy can do that. So I think they're uneasy, but honestly, I don't think that's a bad thing.

I think it just makes things a little bit uncomfortable. You know, Ruby's going to have his way of doing a few new things with the group. So I think that we'd expect maybe a little bit of, you know, inconsistent play, but I think you'll see some uncomfortable guys, which is healthy when a team has been together for as long as some these guys have already. Well, Strudy, there's change, and there's change everywhere throughout the league. You talk about without Marner, obviously,

there's some uneasiness. Talk about the uneasiness in Evanston, either with 97, not signing on the dotted line. Is that still a daily storyline, or are people trying to just accept what's going to come whenever it comes, if it ever comes? Well, I think

for the fans, obviously, it's still a big storyline, and you'll see what happened in Minnesota now, you know, that their star signed. You know, there's hopefully hope that they're hoping that they can get it done as well. But I think for the team and for teammates of his, an organization, you know there's time, right? And, you know, if it gets to July 1st and he hasn't signed, well, then I think there'll be some moments to panic for the players and the team. But for the players and the teammates, there's other people on expiring contracts that are this year, including HECOLM, KULAC, you know, these types of guys. So I think there just have to be business as usual.

The challenge for the Oilers now is to get, you know, new players into this group. And whether, like, Howard gets to start the year, or Matt's the boy, or, you know, on the back end, there's some younger D. They're looking pretty good. Or Tomashek or No Filp, these type of guys. Like, they need to get these new guys in because a lot of players moved on or moved on Trump. Strattie, do you think Drysidal looks at his contract, although it's incredibly a lot of money and looking at Capri.

off saying, man, maybe I should have just kind of went about this a different way and I could have cashed in even more than I already did. I know I would be. It's like, it's like, you know, what is that? It's not that long ago that he signed that contract, and now

I believe Leon's better than he is, than Krill is, although they're close. So it wasn't like that contract's five years old, but what about Miko ranching it? You know, what did Miko signed for? Is it $12 million? 12, yeah. Something in there. So he's five

shy times eight that's 40 million dollars that's that's quite a bit that's not your bar tab at earls on a Friday night like that's a lot of cash that you know it's sitting there and that contract is barely old so I wonder how that changes how these superstar guys win they sign and and how they choose to do it you do you wait and be like if meiko had been more selective we've got more than 12 I'm not sure but after this deal I think he probably could have well even caprice up might think that way a year from now like he's he's he's saying a year out, he may get to next July 1st and think he could have gotten 18

or 19 million. And what's amazing about the Caprisoff stuff is like it's such a crazy number. Yet I don't sense anyone expects Minnesota to win. No, like no one thinks they're going to win a cup now because they got him done.

He doesn't, he's an immense talent, really good player. Is he a winner? I don't know. Like they haven't won anything with him. He's a scoring winger. He's already had people showing clips of him last night like floating around. Yeah. And they're like, look at this guy, just signed that contract, and he's weaseling around

out there doing nothing, like floater shifts. And then somebody caught it on tape. Yeah. Crazy. Let's be honest. Like, they're the fourth best team in their division with him, with him on the team. Either, like, I think there's other teams, there are four teams that are better than him.

So, you know, Bill, Garon, I think this is a big part of what they're trying to do is get him locked in. Now they got boldy. You know, so now they have to add. They have to add. And I know the salary cap's going up, and they have that salary cap penalty they had with Preeze and Souter. That's passed them. But eight of that went to Dollar Dollar Bill Carrill.

So they now have to add because that team isn't good enough. It's good, but it's not good enough. I don't think, like I said, right now I have them at the fourth best team in their division. So, guys, I wanted everybody to weigh in on this. I was thinking about it. I was asked this question specifically today when you're like, okay, 17, that's an outrageous number, you know, for Carrill. is he a top 10 player all of that type of stuff do we uh in the media as fans have to readjust you know how we look at contracts and i'll give you an example in the year 2000 chris pronger

made 10 million bucks a year and i look at the NBA players like i think it was stodemeyer made 10 million dollars allen iverson was making 10 million dollars nowadays 25 years later kawai and these guys are making 50 million a year top paid player in the NHL is 14.5. And I know different sports, different TV contracts, all of that type of stuff. But is this hockey's time to grow? So three years from now, are we going to be looking at this and going, geez, William Nylander at 11.5 or an unbelievable deal? But are we going to see the step ladder, you know, three, four, five, six years from now where guys are making 20 and you're going, yeah, that seems about market value right now.

Jamie, I think it's great for the players. How many times have you looked at other sports and said the hockey players aren't even close? And now the guys are coming up and starting to make massive cash. It's appropriate for these guys, finally, finally. But the thing is some guys locked in that have to wait around like a William Nealander. For years he's going to be saying, man, look at that guy. We talked about him in the Capriza of comparison yesterday. He's going to be like, that guy making that much more than me.

But that's just the way it happens, man. And it happens fast. Like as soon as Caprisoff signed, all of a sudden people are going to be like, I got to give this, I got to give my player the cash because he got it. It adjusts everything. And I guess Sportico, you know, they're a website that delves into money and evaluation of different franchises and leagues. And they posted something today.

I saw Kevin Weeks tweet this out. Three year change per league in terms of value, I believe, like franchise values and overall revenue generated by the league. The NHL over the last three years is up 108%, the NBA 78%, the NFL 72%, the MLB 22%. So in other words, the NHL is like, yeah, to your point, thriving. And the Leafs, today it was announced, this is according to Sportico, but they're the most valued franchise in the league, and it's like $4.6 billion. Remember when it was crazy that they were worth a billion?

Yeah. The abs were worth a billion? Exactly. And again, to finish this point, then, Struddy, you can jump in. Luke Hughes just signed an extension down in New Jersey. He's the youngest of the Hughes brothers. He's making the most money.

He's the youngest. And to be fair to him, he's the third best player of the three. He's making nine, Jack's making eight, Quinn's making 7.88. And he was an RFA, and they just gave him $9 million a year over seven years. So that's your answer. Yes, Struddy. Everything has to adjust.

I wish someone would have said that about me and my cousins, that I would have been higher paid than those two guys. I would have been, I worked harder than both of them. Well, for sure, Rob, maybe not Scott. You've got to say who your cousins are, struts. Scott and Rod Neidemeyer, it's, you know, okay, average players, but I was definitely underpaid compared to them. Yes, you were.

You know what I think, I think what will really hit fans. I don't know if it's the top market guys. I think it's when you have a second or third-line center that might make $10 million, or, you know, a third-line center that's making six or seven because the cop's going to keep going up and everyone's going to flow it up a bit. I think that's when fans are going to be like, no way, that guy should be making whatever. But we have to reevaluate what cap numbers are because it's just a percentage.

We have to members, the percentage of the cap, and then whatever that cap number is, that's the number to get on the other end of it. Yeah. Well, again, I think the Luke Hughes one's interesting because seven years, I was kind of waiting for a short-term deal, and then maybe he lines up with Quinn Hughes and maybe they go somewhere else. But now, you know, if he's going to be in Jersey for seven years, and Jack Hughes has got a lot of term left on his deal.

It only looks like it can go one way. Yeah, it looks like Quinn Hughes is, if he's going to play with him, he's going to Jersey. You know what? I want to throw in here, too. Doesn't it make you, if you're a top-end player, why would you sign for eight years? 100%. Why don't you sign for two?

And as the cap continues to escalate, That way you're not going to have a problem where, you know, year five, you're grossly underpaid. I think the agents will be leaning on these guys to go sign two-year deals, and yes, it'll create anxiety within fan basis as we see. What about injuries, though, Jamie? Like, are you telling me if somebody puts 136 on a table or something like that? And you're going to say, well, I might just sniff around and do a short-term deal to see if I can cash in a different way. You get hurt. like that's you talk about anxiety like that's a great point but how often does that happen

though really like how often you see an elite player quit not being able to play hockey again right because it doesn't happen very often no but it just you i think the only thing i would say to guard against that is you probably take out some wild insurance policy that there if there is a career ending injury you know you're paying a huge premium on it but it's it's a hundred million cash tax free type of thing in your pocket because that's you know, after taxes, what you would have made, you know, that type of stuff. But I just look at it as if you feel like a lot of these contracts that have just been signed are going to be undervalued by that player two or three years in,

I would be shocked to see the next wave of players to sign for seven or eight years or, you know, or even five or six, it might be four or less just based on, you know, how the escalating cap is going up. Yeah. It makes a lot of sense. And that, I mean, that brings you back to where we started with Connor McDavid. I mean, maybe that's a situation where he's seen all this, and, you know, he can get whatever he gets now.

But in a couple years, that might be 20 for two or three years, right? So, yeah, I think there's a lot of moving parts on all these guys, but Carrille definitely set the table for them. Yeah, he sure did. So Connor Ingram gets picked up by the Oilers, and he's their, I guess, their third goalie, right? He's going right to their minor league team, I believe. Bakersfield, yeah.

Bakersfield. But still, everyone's waiting to see. what Stan Bowman's doing with that goaltending position and this is the guy you know if Connor is sitting there saying I'm only signing if you prove to me you're helping me win a cup did this move the meter at all

or what? And you think he specifically Hayes said talked about the goaltending or what? Would you be shocked if that's what he brought up at some point in a candid moment with management? It wouldn't shock me. Yeah I mean if he signs tomorrow I guess that will be the final piece

right? Thank Connor Ingram. Yeah. Thank you. A guy who could have gone waivers you traded for. So I guess when I look at it, they're looking for someone who's had a little more experience being their third goaltender. You see a lot of teams now with three goaltenders and one being, you know, maybe a weak or borderline backup. But a guy that can come in and help if there's an injury to Skinner and or Pickard. They have it. Now they're not going to be held over a barrel, try to trade for someone.

They're like, yeah, give us a third rounder, a second rounder for this guy. but also I think it's a bit of a I think it's a very low risk and possibly decent reward outcome if he can go down and kind of get himself like just his mindset for whatever he was away working on and then get his game squared away

maybe there's something there that can help because he's had some decent, a couple decent years when I look at it today so you know I think it's a very low risk and decent reward opportunity for the orders in Connor specifically yeah the reason my understanding that they didn't grab him off way

because if you grab off waivers, you need to take the whole contract. So they let him get through waivers. Then they get Utah to chew on 800 of the contract, so it's close to the league minimum or, if not league minimum. And he's already through waivers. You can assign him right to the minors. So it's kind of a shrewd move, which takes up a contract on your cap table, but he's your third.

And their third was a guy named Matt Tompkins, who's not an NHL goaltender. So, you know, if anything, it bridges against. to an injury kind of you got a solid three there but I do a couple years ago he was pretty darn good for Utah or for Arizona he played 50 games yeah as a 26 year at least 28 but again that's not your answer though Brian if you were talking about it like that was the the crux of the question he's not coming in to take stewart skinner spot if anything he's taking pickard spot because pickard might age out here soon so it's if anything they're giving skinner a runway here

to see if he can either have a good start to the season or have a consistent season. But I still think that there's more moves to be made in Evanton. It might not just be a net. I think they're going to still be fishing around up front as well. Well, it's a roll of the dice. We'll see. It got a little while in Quebec City last night.

Nudles was there calling the game between Ottawa and Montreal. Did you have any crazy preseason games back in your NHL career? Well, so the year before Chris Simon had stomped on, Hallwig and been suspended for a lot of games when I was with the Rangers and they were with Islanders. So you don't serve those during exhibition. It's only regular season. So we're playing against each other. And Tom Reddy comes in and says, hey, Holly, you know, let's just don't go after Chris Simon. We don't need anything crazy. I'm like, yeah, sounds good. And Chris Simon was playing against us. And like halfway through the game, Holly runs them and there's

a brawl and we're all fighting and then got kicked out. And like Tom was so mad, but he was kind of laughing like thanks for like four good shifts guys right like and it's just crazy like that those three seasons i remember sometimes if you didn't want to play you just fight and just get out of the game or get a second fight you don't have to play anymore i love that chris simon with the hair wheeling around a scary individual like i hit him in the head with a high stick by accident once and i was like i'm dead i'm completely dead this guy's going to kill me and he looked at me said please keep your stick down I was like

it was a shocking moment I was like I can't believe he just spoke to me like that well listen to how strutty just described that scene he stomped Ryan Holwegg the year before and let's just consider

he had a skate on yeah I remember it that play was in Long Island wasn't it Strud yeah it was yeah yeah and it was like yeah and you just you could just see it coming like

oh god is this going to happen and then you go into like why they play Chris Simon in an exhibition game against exactly you know like what do you think's going to happen right

like nothing matters you just do whatever you want and sigh i played them he was the best guy like the greatest guy but man he when he decided it was time to get serious he wasn't very fun anymore i didn't enjoy playing against him

no he was scary well he uh i got i got traded for him like he and he lived at my house i got traded i he got traded he was a big part of them going on the run in the in the playoffs he was awesome but it was funny he lived in my house and i wasn't sure what to expect

so when i came home after the season he called me and he goes there's a blank check on the on the counter he goes he goes just fill it out for the damage i was like oh god what a lot and how nervous were you filling that out like what you got to tell us the amount you filled out on that check it was under 10 grand but over 5 grand like it was I think it was like I don't even know how that damage happened like I was like you know back then you wish there was a camera phone or something going on but I was loud there was had to be some carpet and some hardwood flooring had to be changed in one area it's like what is going on here a blank check on the way out yeah literally I'm not lying in the kitchen on the

counter was a blank check and then he just he called me and it said you fill that out when you get the the damages fixed and i was like all right buddy a great guy he's a great guy he's a great guy that's awesome yeah well him and holwig i love that it's stomping him and then in the preseason of the next year taking care of business and tom randy would have seen it all he'd been around forever right like he must have known like there's no chance you guys are going to be on your best behavior there's no chance. We don't have a full roster for the whole game. No, whatever.

It's your own fault. Shouldn't address us. All right, Strud, great stuff. We'll do it again soon. Boys, I'm off to judge a chili contest at the rodeo here in Empton, so pretty big gun they're bringing in for this contest to judge. Wow. How did they recruit you from Facebook Marketplace or what? What do you have?

How does this work? He's got to wear a diaper, I think. Like, what are you going to go to chili? Well, what happens if you're going to? If you taste a spicy one and your mouth's all screwed up, like, how do you cleanse the palate? Do you, like, are you an expert at this or something? First time. I've never been asked before, and I don't know why.

I mean, talk about celebrity power, but I'll have to figure out, maybe sour cream cleanse the palate. I don't know. Do you have any suggestions? China whites. There you go. Oh, China White. I won't remember the end of it. Dude, you'll be leaving a blank check at the dry cleaners.

That's it. Fill this out for any. damage, mental or otherwise, after dealing with this. You'll get a need to answer from noodles. Noodles will take care of it. All right, well, enjoy it, and circle back. Give us an update later. We want to hear more.

I will. I will, boy. Some lighten candles right now. Talk to you later. That boy, have fun. Jason Strudwood joining us for the Maple Toyota Hotline. Drive the built-in-Canada fuel-efficient, fun to drive Toyota R.4, gas or hybrid models available, visit mapletoid.com.

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