Montreal Canadiens: Joel Edmundson Injury Opens Door For Young Defensemen

Montreal Canadiens training camp is well underway and the battle for roster spots is ongoing.

Though there aren’t a ton of spots up for grabs with so many players in camp with years of NHL experience, a slew of injuries could open the door for a young player to step into the lineup.

One such position that could be up for grabs is Joel Edmundson’s spot on the blue line.

Though not a lot has been said about the nature of Edmundson’s injury, he was listed as day-to-day when camp began over a week ago and still hasn’t joined the rest of the players at main camp. Habs head coach Dominique Ducharme said yesterday that it was hoped Edmundson would have been a regular participant by now, but they haven’t been able to include him yet.

Ducharme mentioned Edmundson has a couple of days that are better and then a couple of days where he feels worse and then better again. He wants to take the time now to ensure Edmundson feels fine long term once he does join the rest of the team at camp.

Edmundson still has nearly two weeks to get himself ready for the regular season opener, but the longer this lasts, the more realistic it is that he doesn’t begin the season on time.

If Edmundson isn’t ready to go, it opens a huge void on the blue line. He played almost all of last season in the top four with Jeff Petry and it was just sort of expected that he would take on that role again. With Shea Weber out for the year, it was thought that pairing would be even more important this season.

So, who steps into that prized position if Edmundson can’t play?

Right now Alexander Romanov is skating with Petry. We have seen just two of six preseason games so a lot can change, but moving Romanov into the top four makes a lot of sense. The 21 year old defender had a solid rookie season last year and though he was consistently on the third pairing he showed enough promise offensively and defensively to suggest he could handle a top four role soon.

If Romanov isn’t summoned to play on the top pairing, another youngster could take that place.

Kaiden Guhle is playing with David Savard who is expected to be a top four option for the Habs. Guhle was the team’s first round pick in 2020 and he played quite well in his first exhibition game on Monday night. The big left defender is likely ticketed to head back to the WHL where he will play this season, but he can play nine games without burning up a year of his entry-level contract.

If Edmundson’s injury creeps into the regular season, perhaps Guhle gets a handful of games next to Petry to learn the ropes of being an NHL player.

Mattias Norlinder is another option to step into a prime time role. He was a third round pick back in 2018 and is skating with Ben Chiarot in camp. The 21 year old has pro experience in Sweden and is comfortable playing either side of the ice. He is a terrific skater and puck mover and the Canadiens could use more of that on the blue line.

Hopefully Edmundson’s injury isn’t long term but if he misses the beginning of the season the Canadiens have a trio of young defenders to choose from to fill the void in the top four.

The safest bet would be 21 year old Romanov, but 19 year old Guhle and 21 year old Norlinder will make compelling cases as well. That is certainly a storyline to keep an eye on the longer that Edmundson’s absence extends.