‘Kaprizov in a class of his own on Wild, held all the cards’: Corrado on record-setting contract

‘Kaprizov in a class of his own on Wild, held all the cards’: Corrado on record-setting contract

Okay, as promised, an exciting instudio appearance by Frankie Curado, one of our NHL analysts, one of our favorites. He’s rocking a pretty cool gray suit today. Frankie, how are you doing? What’s up, buddy? You got one of those goofy pictures for me at the start of the show. Well, yeah, we like to uh we like to show I don’t know if it’s goofy. I think yours is probably pretty flattering. I’ve seen some silly ones. That’s got to be producer Kyle scouring the web. I think I saw my LinkedIn picture on that once. Yeah, probably in there. Your the picture you you had when you were lawnmowing and when you were 13 around the the Woodbridge area. $20 a lawn. That’s right. It’s a good deal. It’s a good summer job. Uh Carill the Thrill Capri off. So, it’s just amazing to me because he would he played it so beautifully. Carrill and his agent really made you think like, wow, they might walk all the way into free agency here and instead it just goes from a 16 million on the AEV to a 17 million and you get the deal done. Are you surprised that the Wild basically just gave in? No, I am not surprised. And it’s funny like you talk about, you know, if he walked himself to free agency, he almost had more leverage just dealing with the Minnesota Wild because what’s the discrepancy on that team between Carrill Capri off and the second best player? Who’s that? Like Joel Erikson or Brock Faber like he really is in such a class of his own on that team. So he held all the cards. And if you’re Bill Garren and the Minnesota Wild, what choice do you have other than to just pay Carrill Capri off? Because he’s that good. And what happens? What’s the fallout on that team if you don’t have him? You’re already a team that like, you know, you make the playoffs, but you don’t go very far in the playoffs. And if you don’t have Carell Capri off, all of a sudden you’re restarting this whole thing over again where you know you’re handing over the keys to these young players, guys on entry level contracts eventually hoping that you find another superstar talent and you get to the same point with that player and then you have a decision to make. Do we pay him or do we not pay him? So the Minnesota Wild had no choice. Carril Capri off recognized that, played it perfectly. And if you’re a player around the league, you’re probably happy that there’s someone willing to push the envelope and get those salaries higher. You wouldn’t have said that in a flat cap world because the more someone on a team makes, the less there is for everyone else, but who knows how much the cap is going to go up now in the next three, four, five years. It’s going to be a lot of money. So guys like Carrill Capri off, they can push the envelope and get more for other players. You said something right there that really resonates with me. As a former player, how are the other players reacting to this deal? Are they looking? Now, McDavid still hasn’t signed yet. And there’s also speculation that he’s going to sign for less than Capri off on the AAV because he wants to win. But at the same time, if you’re another player from another team, aren’t you saying, “Hey, you’re the best player in the game. You need to get more than Carell Capri off.” 100%. Yeah. And and look at it this way be because Carell Capri off comes in now at $17 million. Conor McDavid can sign a deal for 17.5 and you and I can talk about it on your show and say Conor McDavid left money on the table for the Edmonton Oilers because he’s at least a $2.5 million player more than Carell Capri off but he didn’t have to go there because he said you know what I’ve been talking about winning in Edmonton and that’s what it’s all about and so yeah I have a duty Conor McDavid does have a duty as the you know unanimous best player in the NHL to eventually be the highest paid guy and he’s coming up. So like from a player’s point of view, I think he has to take more than Capri off, but he can take just a little bit more and he can get so much goodwill in his market, outside the market, you would win over all the players who obviously, you know, would want him to take more. And we’ll look at it and say, if he just took $500,000 more than Capri off, he left money on the table for the Edmonton Oilers, and that’s a lot of money. What if he actually takes even less? What if he takes just as an example 15 on like a three-year deal? That would be so crazy. I think that would be so crazy to even for him to even want to go there. Like I I get because he’s he’s talked about wanting to win, you have to leave some money on the table, but you know, we were we were on overdrive and and Mike Johnson brought up a g great point like you know, sometimes players do that and they allow the general managers to to spend more money. They don’t spend it wisely, right? So and and and MJ was right like just spend the extra money on the star guy. Like you know what you’re getting out of Conor McDavid and Leon Daddidle and Caro Capriovv. So you’re okay spending a little more there instead of the the unknown of of how you’re going to sprinkle that money around. But there’s just there’s no way there there’s no way he he for me Conor McDavid has an obligation to make more than Caril Capri off. And he can do it in a fashion that still insinuates that he left money on the table. And as you pointed out earlier, cap’s going up. So we don’t even know how much cap room the Oilers might have anyway at this point. So take what you take what you can get, Connor. I mean, you’re you’re only going around this world once now. Jack Eel and Kyle Connor are the uh the other two of the big four potential unrestricted free agents. Obviously, Carill’s off the board now. Does this Carill deal affect those two contracts from Connor and Ekeel in any way, shape, or form? Listen, if you are Connor and Eel and you’re their agents, you will argue that it does because yes, this is the new benchmark and you look at it and say, “What are my client’s numbers compared to this guy’s numbers?” But it does truly feel like an outlier because of what we talked about the the dynamic between Capri off and the field for the Minnesota Wild. Well, what’s the dynamic between Eel and the field for the Vegas Golden Knights? Like there’s not that huge separation. There’s not that huge separation with the Winnipeg Jets, Mark Shley, Connor Halbuck, Josh Moresy, you know, you go down the list of guys that are going to sign our Tammy Paneran. So, you know, they are they are not, I guess, negotiating under the same circumstances that Carrill Capri off was. But with that being said, like, think about this. If you’re if you’re Kyle Connor now, you’re you’re in line to make I don’t know, it’s got to be $12 million, does it not? 12 is very realistic. 12 is realistic and and it’s honestly going to be reasonable. Kyle Connor is not $5 million less of a player than Carell Capriov, right? And but think about the team dynamic now like Connor Hobbuk and Mark Shley signed a couple years ago for eight and a half and like because there’s all this more like you know this more money at play like that’s going to be the market value for Kyle Connor. I think the the Jack Eel thing, you know, number one center, two-way guy, elite force both ways, Stanley Cup champion, like he’s going to get his money and he was going to get what he was going to get regardless of what Capri off got because it’s a premium position and because of, you know, his his important role. But I mean, if you’re if you’re an agent, if you’re a player and you’re coming up this year, you’re doing everything you can to say like, okay, that’s the new benchmark. I am this much lesser. Okay. Well, that that equals way more money than it used to. And you know, you mentioned like a number like 12 on the AAV for Connor. If you’re the Jets and you and he agrees to that deal, like, aren’t you trying to lock that down immediately? I’m surprised it’s taking this long, I guess, is what I’m saying. He he apparently wants to still be there. Yeah. You know, at the end of the day, that’s not the case with every player who plays in Winnipeg. Well, I mean, Jack Eel probably wants to be in Vegas. He does, apparently, right? Like Conor McDavid would probably want to be in Edmonton. You would think. Like, there’s just I guess there’s there’s no rush for for these things to get done because the players are going to be good. They’re going to be productive. The the teams know what they are. Just wanted to see maybe one domino fall and see see where everything kind of lies after that because, you know, no player even Conor McDavid on his own team like Leon Dryidle is very very good. like they’re 1 A and 1B. Like no one has this discrepancy of being the best player and the rest of the pack and having the opportunity to leverage their contract negotiation the way that Carell Capri off did. Even the dryidal deal signed just last summer. Yeah. Suddenly is starting to look like a bargain for that guy. It’s incredible how things change with this cap going up and up. And I just want to switch gears really quickly because Lane Hudson, who won the Calder Trophy last year, another goal and an assist in preseason action on Tuesday night. So, he’s continuing to turn heads. Got a ton of high praise. Habs played the Leafs over the weekend. Leaf’s players very complimentary about Hudson. He didn’t make the TSN top 50 list this year. How high could he potentially go next year in your opinion? He’ll he’ll be on it next year because he’s going to have a big year. And what’s gonna happen for Lane Hudson is if he has a repeat performance of last year, which I think he will, he’s going to be in that tier of super offensive defenseman. Kale Mar is is, you know, he’s the king, but he’s great both ways. Quinn Hughes, super elite, you know, offensive defenseman. I think Lane Hudson has a chance to be like right there. Like Quinn Hughes, Adam Fox. And then the thing about this top 50 list you do have to keep in mind is it’s not all about points and points per game. like you know steady two-way guys, guys like Gus Forsling, Jacob Slavven, like these guys make the list because they are the best at what they do defensively. But Lane Hudson is going to be, you know, so potent offensively. He’s made a lot of strides defensively last year and I expect that to continue this year. So I think he’s probably like if if if he has the year I think he’s going to have, he’s he’s maybe in like the the high30s, let’s say. Like I think he he jumps up that much. You look at the Calder finalists from last year. You look at the CBrinis, you look at Dustin Wolf, like all those guys potentially could move into the top 50. Maybe not next year, but in the next couple years. Yeah. And okay, so talking about, you know, salary cap and and teams who who went through negotiations, the Montreal Canadiens now have all their guys locked up at like very reasonable cap. Like Nick Suzuki is making less than $8 million a year. If he was coming up today, he’s in the same conversation for like Jack Eel money, you know, considering the two-way prowess um that he and the season he just had last year. Exactly. The season he has, how important he is to that team. And now Lane Hudson is going to be able to like negotiate his contract. He should be the highest paid player on the Habs based on where the money is going like with the salary cap and his value to the team. Um and the fact that like he’s such a point producer. Um he he should be the highest paid player when when his deal eventually gets done. But we have to see how the Demid full season goes this year. Maybe that pushes that one even. Right. Maybe he becomes the highest. The Hams are such an intriguing team. You get to cover them all season long. You must be looking forward to this buddy. It should be fun. There’s always a buzz there like no matter what, but especially this year having been there, you know, a little bit in the preseason, you can you can feel there’s a lot of excitement around that team. Has Brian Mudri returned from one of his many international golf trips? Like, will he even make it to the first game? No, he’s he’s there. I heard super tight pants this year, too. So, he’s he’s ready to go. The pants get tighter, and he continues to deliver each and every year, just like this guy, Frankie Curado.

Are you surprised the Wild agreed to a higher price tag for Kirill Kaprizov? How does Kaprizov’s deal impact Connor McDavid’s new contract? What does Kaprizov’s deal do for negotiations around the league? How high could Lane Hutson be on TSN’s Top 50 list next year? TSN Hockey analyst Frankie Corrado joins SC with Jay Onrait to discuss.