The Montreal Canadiens and Carolina Hurricanes have made a trade on Saturday, the Canadiens landing a free agent target before free agency opens on October 9th. The team has acquired the negotiating rights to unrestricted free agent defenseman Joel Edmundson.
Carolina has moved Edmundson (more specifically his contract) to the Canadiens in return for Carolina’s 2020 fifth-round pick.
A 6’4”, 215-lb. d-man, he posted a career high 20 points last season. Over a 337 game career and stops in St. Louis and Carolina, he’s amassed 72 points (20g, 52a).
At 27, as a pending UFA, Edmundson has some upside but his underlying numbers aren’t terrific. He could be a good fit for the Canadiens should they be able to get him signed but the question of cost will factor in. It could require a 3-year deal, in the area of $3.5-$4 million to get it done.
He is coming off a one-year, $3.1 million deal.
It was unlikely the Hurricanes were going to sign Edmundson with all the internal housekeeping they needed to do this offseason. This still leaves the team with Brady Skjei, Haydn Fleury, Jaccob Slavin, Dougie Hamilton, Brett Pesce, and Jake Gardiner, assuming they can get everyone under contract.
That said, the expectation is that the Hurricanes may still make one or two more moves involving their blue line. And this deal allows the Hurricanes to get back a fifth-round pick, having traded the 146th pick along with Justin Faulk to the Blues for Dominik Bokk and Edmundson.
A Risk/Reward Trade
If the Canadiens sign Edmundson and he helps the team get back to contention, it will have been a move worth making. If the Habs fail to sign Edmundson in the next 27 days, it may come back to haunt them that they gave up fifth-round pick for nothing and in a very deep draft.
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