Ex-Blackhawks star shares how he and Todd Bertuzzi bullied former Canucks captain into buying them lunch

By Cole Shelton

Modified Aug 03, 2024 12:38 GMT

On Wednesday, longtime NHLer Jason Strudwick shared a story with Spittin' Chiclets regarding him and Todd Bertuzzi. He joked about the time when they used to bully former Vancouver Canucks captain Markus Naslund into buying them lunch.

While Strudwick was playing for the Canucks, he became friends with Bertuzzi as the two roomed with one another on the road. Their rooms were usually beside and connected to Naslund's, allowing them to bully the captain into buying them lunch.

"Our rooms were always linked and we'd open the door and every time we'd get into a wrestling match. Bertuzzi and I probably outweighed him by like 150 pounds. So we go in there and we'd just stuff him under the bed. He’d be like 'Stop it stop it' and we were like you got to buy us lunch," Strudwick said.

What's funny is that Naslund was the Canucks captain and is a Hall of Famer. But, despite that, they still would jokingly bully him into buying them lunch. Strudwick played in 631 NHL games, recording 13 goals and 40 assists for 53 points.

Blackhawks GM excited about the future

The Chicago Blackhawks are a rebuilding team but have a good core anchored by Connor Bedard. This offseason, Chicago was active in free agency signing the likes of Teuvo Teravainen and Tyler Bertuzzi. However, Blackhawks general manager Kyle Davidson says the goal is to still build through the draft and believes he has the right foundation in place.

“For me, starting this vision out a couple years, it was always through the draft,” Davidson said to The Athletic. “It was always the foundation was going to be built through the draft, it wasn’t going to be built through trade or free agency...

“Time will tell if that vision and that excitement and that evaluation going into the draft will bear fruit but as we stand after those drafts and now seeing the development of some of those earlier draft picks, I think the group is extremely excited about where this is headed and where we believe these players are headed to eventually create something really special here in Chicago.”

Chicago is still expected to be a rebuilding team in the upcoming season but could push for a playoff spot in the following year.