LOS ANGELES — If it was Joel Edmundsonis the last game of a Montreal Canadiens uniform, it will have a lot to do with the 75 he has already had in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Sources we connected with late Thursday suggested that at least two playoff-related teams remain interested in his services, which would allow him to move before Friday’s 3:00 p.m. ET deadline. We didn’t need them to tell us that the Canadiens lost 3-2 to the Los Angeles Kings wasn’t Edmundson’s first game in just over a month, he probably would have been traded a few days ago.
If that seems counterintuitive, given Edmundson’s recent injury history and his contract, which counts an additional $3.5 million toward the salary cap for one more season beyond this one, we understand. We can recognize that he is not the type of defender you immediately think of as an element to put a team in contention above.
Martin St. Louis understands that turbocharged, freewheeling and puck-moving defenders are also more in vogue.
But the Canadiens coach also knows the kind of value an experienced, hardy defenseman like Edmundson possesses in the spring.
“The game is more about skating and possession (than when he played from 1998 to 2015), so there were more Joel Edmundsons and there were fewer (Scott) Niedermayers,” St. Louis said earlier. THURSDAY. “Now it’s a bit reversed. Guys like Eddy, on the bench, they just bring presence.
On the ice, says Saint-Louis, this presence is magnified.
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“(Edmundson brings) physicality, and the opponents know that in some places on the ice they’re probably going to pay more than against a Niedermayer, so to speak,” St. Louis continued. “Niedermayer-type guys, they’ll occupy your space differently, with their feet and with their stick, and big guys like Eddy are going to put a price on you physically.
“They are fun to have on your team. I think the guys on the bench feel a difference when Eddy is dressed versus when he’s not.
The Canadiens could feel it against the Kings, and anyone watching could see it.
St. Louis had outfitted seven defensemen to split ice time on the Montreal blue line, and even with Justin Barron leaving after his second shift of the game, he still managed to keep the shifts going. Edmundson at a reasonable number.
The big man, who played just 14:42 over 18 shifts – and just 2:59 over six in the third – started tentatively but ramped up his game with each shift, taking on the Kings’ first line by Anze Kopitar, Adrian Kempe. and Quinton Byfield for most of the night at 5-on-5, recording four hits and a blocked shot, and putting on the kind of performance he’s known for throughout his eight-year career.
It was the type of performance that would have at least reassured teams still interested in his serves that he might be worth betting on in the hours to come.
If they were wondering how Edmundson’s back would hold up, after keeping him out of Montreal’s last 11 games – as well as 10 at the start of the season and 58 of last season’s 82 games – they could. see him hold up well throughout the game.
“I felt good there,” Edmundson said.
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If that remains the status quo for the next few weeks, a team willing to take a chance will get a worthy player.
It was in the playoffs that the six-foot-five, 221-pound player imposed his punishment style to help the St. Louis Blues go further in consecutive years before helping them win the Stanley Cup. 2019.
Then in 2021, Edmundson helped the Canadiens get less than two wins from their 28-year-old first Cup by throwing 65 hits and stopping 30 shots. He commandeered a penalty shootout group that kept his opposition to just five goals from 61 attempts.
He averaged 23:23 per game and became the leader he was later officially recognized when the Canadiens named him backup captain to Nick Suzuki in the fall of 2022.
We reached out to Montreal’s other backup, Brendan Gallagher, to give us an idea of how important Edmundson was to the Canadiens in that run, and how important he has been since, and the response we we had was that he couldn’t sum up Edmundson’s situation. is worth more than the text.
“Great teammate, great player, badass,” read the text former Canadiens teammate Ben Chiarot sent us after scoring a goal for the Detroit Red Wings in a 5-4 overtime loss. against the Seattle Kraken earlier Thursday.
“He’s a guy you want on your team when you go to a big game!” cried Chiarot.
He was echoing the words Kaiden Guhle — a thriving 21-year-old rookie defenseman who’s been paired up with Edmundson at times this season — said in San Jose before the Canadiens beat the Sharks on Tuesday and reinforced those Suzuki used on Thursday morning.
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Barron said earlier Thursday, “I think it’s just that he’s good at everything in his game all over the ice. Obviously, with his size and his strength, he is very good in the defensive zone. He’s tough to get off the run, strong in net, makes tough plays, but we’ve seen at times that he’s definitely got enough talent to make plays to the offensive zone blue line and lift a bit in the running bit. He’s just a real stable player and a good leader in this team as well. He makes everyone better.
“He’s a hell of a player and he knows exactly what he needs to do in his role and he maybe plays it perfectly,” Suzuki said. “He has a big influence on the ice and off the ice.
No one felt that more than Jake Allen, who won the Cup with Edmundson in St. Louis and watched from the Montreal bench when he played such an important role in the Canadiens’ run two years ago.
For the goaltender, who made 30 saves against the Kings, the possibility of Edmundson being traded in the next few hours seems very real due to what the defenseman has proven he can do when it matters most.
“He’s just a big, mean bastard over there,” Allen said. “He doesn’t back down, he’s not scared of anyone, he’s got this long reach. I always thought I’d rather have a d-man with size than no size. As you know, space is so valuable in the playoffs. You can get away with it in the regular season, but I’ve seen it with my own eyes – it’s crucial to gain space and have a six-foot-five defender with reach , who is lanky and experienced, who probably played his best hockey in the playoffs, I think that will be the determining factor in why he is wanted by many teams.
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Although Edmundson has said he’d rather stay with the Canadiens, he’s preparing for the possibility of him going.
“There are rumors going around everywhere, and all of us guys – we see them,” he said. “When you’re in a situation like our team, everyone is a little nervous. It’s just part of the business, it’s not fun. But it’s definitely in the back of your mind…
“I’m not going to say I’m excited. It just sucks to be in the position where you’re one of the bottom teams. No one is really safe. There’s probably a handful of guys on our team who are safe, and the rest of us, it’s not fun. The day is going to be long. »
Whether that ends with Edmundson staying with the Canadiens and playing in Anaheim against the Ducks is the big question.
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