The Toronto Maple Leafs have made a trade! They have acquired Joel Edmundson from the Washington Capitals in exchange for a 2024 third-round pick (NYI) and a 2025 fifth-round pick (CHI).
Edmundson is a 6-foot-5, 221-pound left-handed defenceman who can play the right side fairly well. The 30-year-old blue liner will presumably take over as Morgan Rielly’s partner since they were defence partners during their time with the Moose Jaw Warriors in the Western Hockey League (WHL). Edmundson will fit the role that the Maple Leafs need on the back end alongside Rielly; he is a tough, hard-to-play-against defender who will stand up for his teammates and protect the crease. That is what playoff hockey is all about, and now the Maple Leafs will have another rugged defenceman on top of Simon Benoit, Jake McCabe, and the aforementioned Lyubushkin.
Edmundson’s Journey
As mentioned above, Edmundson played with the Warriors in the WHL before being drafted by the St.Louis Blues in the second round of the 2011 NHL Draft. He would spend parts of two seasons in the AHL with the Blues’ affiliate, the Chicago Wolves. In 2015-16, he would break into the NHL and become a mainstay in the lineup. He would stay with the organization for four seasons and tallied 52 points in 269 games. During that time, he won a Stanley Cup in 2019 before being traded to the Carolina Hurricanes.
He was dealt alongside Dominik Bokk and a seventh-round pick in 2021 to the Hurricanes in exchange for Justin Faulk and a fifth-round pick in 2020. Where he would only spend one season and score 20 points in 68 games. After the season ended as an unrestricted free agent (UFA), he was traded to the Montreal Canadiens for a 2020 fifth-round pick. He agreed to a contract extension with the Canadiens worth $14.0 million over four seasons. During this time with the Canadiens, the team made it to the Stanley Cup Final but lost to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2021 bubble season. He would spend three of four years with Montreal before being moved to the Capitals in exchange for a third- and seventh-round pick in 2024.
Unfortunately, his time with the Capitals didn’t go all too well. He started the season injured, and that kept him out for a significant amount of time. When he did return, he played well enough to garner some interest on the trade block ahead of the 2024 NHL Trade Deadline. During his time, he scored six points in 44 games before being moved to the Maple Leafs.
Edmundson Extension?
The Maple Leafs have a newfound 30-year-old defenceman who is a left-handed shot but can play on the right side. Who does that sound like to you? If you answered T.J. Brodie, you would be correct! What does this mean? It could mean that Edmundson and the Maple Leafs work out an extension during the next few months, and that spells the end of the line for Brodie once the season concludes. He would replace exactly what Brodie does for the Maple Leafs blue line but also add a more physical element to the back end.
Edmundson is coming off a $14.0 million contract over four seasons and is now 30; he won’t turn 31 until June 28, which should give the Maple Leafs incentive to offer a two-to-three-year extension. Depending on the number of years offered, it may change the average annual value (AAV). If he is given a two-year deal, I’d offer him $2.5 million to make it $5.0 million total over the entity of the contract. Sticking with that logic, if he is given a three-year deal, I’d offer him $1.6 million to make that $5.0 million contract spread over the full term. Of course, they could also be bonuses such as a signing bonus or a performance bonus; however, those would be too hard to predict.
Overall, this trade was a very good move to make. It makes sense for the Maple Leafs; they just became even tougher, stronger, and harder to play against. But it also makes a ton of sense in terms of the future and a potential extension that they could sign Edmundson too. It was a very tidy piece of work by Treliving, a GM that Leafs Nation expects more from over the next 24 hours.
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