Grading the Montreal Canadiens Offseason Moves
Joel Edmundson Trade and Signing
From one Stanley Cup-winning Blue to another; the Canadiens acquired the signing rights to Big Joel Edmundson for a 5th round pick in this year’s draft, which was eventually used (by LA following another trade) to select left-defenceman Ben Meehan, another prospect I like a lot; he’s an over-ager who has a solid motor, is a good skater and is very sound defensively. Still, he would not even crack the top-6 of the Canadiens’ left-defence prospect pool, and in return, the Canadiens get a player who will slot straight into the team’s top-4. Edmundson is a 27-year-old left defenceman who is 6’4″ and weighs 215 lbs.
Of course, this was purely for the right to sign the player; Marc Bergevin did not need to make this trade, he likely could have waited for October 9th and tried his luck then. The Habs’ GM knew that he wanted a big, reliable left defenceman and he signed Edmundson to a 4-year deal with an AAV of $3.5 million. Comparing Edmundson to the other defencemen available in free agency, and it seems like he was the only UFA defenceman of his mould.
While I much prefer the contract of a Chris Tanev, for instance, who got a 4-year deal with an AAV of $4.5 million, and is in my mind a significantly better player than Edmundson, he plays on the right side, where the Canadiens are rather comfortable. There just weren’t any other big, burly, mean left defencemen with Edmundson’s pedigree available in free agency, which leads me to believe, he would have gotten a bigger contract (think $4 to $4.5 million AAV) in free agency.
Despite this, however, I don’t adore the contract, especially given the Canadiens’ left defencemen that should breakthrough in the next few years and the flat cap. Still, this relieves pressure on Alexander Romanov to play in a top-4 role right off the bat. Edmundson’s addition improves the team, I just think that those $3.5 million could have been spent more wisely. I really hope the big man surprises me, just as Ben Chiarot did and carves out a signficant role with the team; plus, Edmundson could also be an ideal candidate for Seattle to pick in the expansion draft, which would free up quite a bit of cap space right when the Habs will need it.