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Joel Edmundson: it could be a long time before he’s traded

 Manuel Sperandio-Lemay
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Joel Edmundson: it could be a long time before he’s traded

Joel Edmundson’s name has been circulating in trade rumors for several months now. With the CH making a youthful shift, trading a defenseman like #44 (whose contract expires at the end of next season) is not a bad idea to make room for the youngsters.

The blue line is already congested, so getting out a guy like Edmundson could allow the Tricolore to play all its young defensemen.

At nearly 30 years of age and a final-year salary of $3.5 million, he’s got what it takes to help a Stanley Cup contender. After all, he already won it in 2019 and helped the Canadiens reach the finals in the summer of 2021.

However, according to Arpon Basu, that doesn’t mean he’ll be traded tomorrow morning. In fact, we can expect it to be a while before he’s traded (if he leaves this summer, of course).

In fact, a June deal seems rather unlikely. Basu explains that the market for the defenseman isn’t very active at the moment and that we shouldn’t expect to see him leave at the draft.

In fact, he’s always just a phone call away from being traded, but it’s unlikely at the moment.

That said, once the free-agent market opens, we’ll have to start keeping an eye on him. With few quality defenders on the market(and with Damon Severson already signed), Edmundson could quickly attract the interest of clubs that won’t find a bargain on the market.

And the good news for the CH is that Vegas winning the Stanley Cup could increase interest in the defenseman.

Why would that be? The reason is simple: the Golden Knights were banking on a defensive brigade made up of big-bodied defensemen, which could prompt GMs to seek out defensemen like that to fine-tune their current group on the blue line.

It’ll be something to keep an eye on, but barring any surprises, nothing is imminent. In July, on the other hand, expect to see his name circulating everywhere (and, if the state of his back doesn’t worry other GMs too much, to possibly see him leave).

Remember, however, that he has a partial no-trade clause, so he can give a list of 10 teams he doesn’t want to be traded to. Stay tuned.


In brief

– Interesting.

– Mike Hoffman and Jeff Petry among NHL’s worst contracts. [The Athletic]

– Indeed.

– Ouch.

– Great read.

– Wow!

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