Edler’s best chance not in Vancouver
Maybe a successful run at world championships will fuel defenceman’s desire to play for an NHL contender
Imagine, for a moment, Alex Edler’s biggest take-away from the world championship in Germany isn’t a gold medal, but rather a reminder of what it’s like to play high-level, high-stakes hockey at this time of year.
Allow the mind to wander to a place where Edler, representing Sweden over the past two weeks, has rekindled his desire to perform on hockey’s biggest stage. And maybe after a summer contemplating his future and that of the Vancouver Canucks, perhaps Edler will come to the realization that to chase the Stanley Cup, he’s likely going to have to move on at some point in his hockey career.
The goal of playing for one NHL team and one team only is a noble one, but the reality is it only happens for a select few. With two years left on a contract that will play him $5 million per season, the 31-year-old defenceman surely has at least one more significant deal ahead of him. But chances are, with where Edler is in his career and where the Canucks are in their rebuild, it’s unlikely he hits the home run here. And so perhaps it’s time he starts thinking about what lies ahead.
The past two seasons have been disasters for the Canucks as a team and difficult for Edler individually. His 2015-16 campaign was curtailed in February by a broken bone in his leg. This season included considerable time on the shelf due to a broken finger suffered in November. There’s more to life in the NHL than toiling for a last-place hockey club and Edler must know that. He was here during the good times (2009-12) and you’d like to believe beneath his low-key exterior exists a competitor longing for another shot with a contender.
He has to see former teammates Ryan Kesler and Kevin Bieksa battling deep into the playoffs in Anaheim. More applicably, he has to be keeping close tabs on longtime friend and teammate Alex Burrows in Ottawa and realizing there are better situations out there than the one he’s currently in. With full trade protection, Edler can control his landing spot and put himself in a position to succeed.
These playoffs have once again shown the value of big-minute defencemen and if Edler is open to the idea of a move, there would surely be teams interested ahead of next year’s deadline. And with two years left on a manageable contract, an acquiring team would get two post-season runs out of Edler rather than taking him on as a rental in the final year of his deal.
The other thing to consider here is with his no-trade clause, Edler could pick his destination and would surely only select teams with legitimate Cup aspirations. As such, those teams would already possess strong blue-lines and he’d simply be reinforcing what is already in place.
There is a comparison to be made here in Ottawa’s Dion Phaneuf. For years, he was miscast as a do-everything guy with huge expectations playing under the unrelenting spotlight in Toronto, much like Edler is here. Phaneuf has now settled in as a solid second-pairing blue-liner, comfortably living in Erik Karlsson’s vast shadow. Edler could play that role perfectly somewhere.
It’s been that way at the worlds, where he has averaged 18:44 of ice time playing behind Victor Hedman and Anton Stralman. Edler scored in the Swedes’ quarter-final win over Switzerland and has formed a solid second pairing throughout the tournament with John Klingberg. It’s been terrific to see him thrive in the right role, something that hasn’t happened here for years.
Maybe the best thing that could happen to Edler is this tournament rekindles his competitive fire and gets him thinking long and hard about what options exist for him beyond Vancouver’s city limits.