Montreal Canadiens: Who Should Be The Next Captain?

Joel Edmundson

Joel Edmundson has proven to be a valuable shutdown defender in his short time with the Canadiens. He has played two seasons in Montreal, and quickly earned a prominent role on the team’s top four. He mostly played with Jeff Petry in 2020-21 and they could eat a pile of minutes together.

Edmundson missed most of last season with injuries but helped settle the team down defensively a bit when he did return. He has played over 400 NHL games, plus 75 playoff games and won a Stanley Cup with the St Louis Blues in 2019. He is a big, physical, veteran defender who was trusted to wear an A on his sweater at times last season.

Who better to lead a team that has a plethora of big, young defenders on the horizon like Kaiden Guhle, Jordan Harris, Arber Xhekaj and Jayden Struble? Edmundson would be a perfect role model for those defenders as they become pros next season and learn the ropes of the NHL game.

The only problem with Edmundson being named captain is he has just two years left on his contract. He has a very reasonable cap hit of $3.5 million and could be on his way out of town as early as the 2023 trade deadline if the right offer comes along. It doesn’t really make sense to name him captain if the plan is to trade him in a year.