Edmundson deal gives Leafs much-needed grit
TRADE ACTION HEATS UP ACROSS LEAGUE AS NHL DEADLINE DRAWS NEAR
Joel Edmundson doesn’t shoot right. The 6-foot-5, 221-pound defenceman does play with a physical edge, though, and will bring that element to the Maple Leafs blue line.
A week after getting brawny defenceman Ilya Lyubushkin from the Anaheim Ducks, Leafs general manager Brad Treliving beefed up the defence corps again, acquiring Edmundson from the Washington Capitals on Thursday morning.
The Leafs sent two draft picks — a 2024 third-rounder (previously owned by the New York Islanders) and a 2025 fifth-rounder (previously owned by the Chicago Blackhawks) — to the Capitals.
Washington is retaining 50 per cent of Edmundson’s salary, which carries a cap hit of US$1.75 million, so the Leafs got that cut to $875,000. The 30-year-old, who won the Stanley Cup with St. Louis in 2019, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Treliving wasn’t done there. The Leafs put defenceman William Lagesson, who has an average annual value of $775,000, on waivers on Thursday afternoon in order to free up more room under the salary cap.
Treliving sought to add two defencemen before the NHL trade deadline on Friday at 3 p.m. and has got that done. Now, it remains to be seen whether he can trade for a depth forward, as is his wish, before the deadline hits.
Edmundson, who will wear No. 20 with the Leafs, has played in 521 regular-season games with St. Louis, Carolina, Montreal and Washington.
More importantly, the native of Brandon, Man., has 75 Stanley Cup playoff games on his resumé, including 22 with the 2019 Blues Cup team.
In 44 games with the Caps this season, Edmundson had one goal, five assists and 19 penalty minutes.
If the Leafs decide to use Edmundson on the penalty kill every so often, he does have that background. Though he was not a primary penalty killer in Washington, he killed penalties during his four seasons with the Montreal Canadiens, and led the team in average ice time while shorthanded in 2023-23.
Edmundson will be reunited with Morgan Rielly as teammates with Toronto. They played three seasons together, from 2010-13, with Moose Jaw of the Western Hockey League.
The Colorado Avalanche acquired a pair of versatile forwards from Central Division rivals, Brandon Duhaime from Minnesota for a third-round pick in 2026 and Yakov Trenin from Nashville for a 2025 third round pick and defence prospect Jeremy Hanzel.
The Edmonton Oilers got defenceman Troy Stecher from Arizona for a fourth-rounder in 2027.
Colorado and Edmonton stayed active, after the Avalanche added centre Casey Mittelstadt and defenceman Sean Walker in separate deals and the Oilers giving themselves serious depth down the middle by trading with Anaheim for Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick.
But it’s not just the championship contenders getting in on the action. The Predators, who hold one of the two wild-card playoff spots in the West, also picked up unsigned draft pick Graham Sward from Colorado and claimed forward Jaret Anderson-dolan off waivers from the Los Angeles Kings.
And they may not be done, with buzz emerging Thursday about Nashville moving closer to getting winger Anthony Beauvillier from Chicago. Beauvillier has already been traded twice in the past 15 months.
Still also likely to be moved before 3 p.m. EST on Friday are Pittsburgh wingers Jake Guentzel and Reilly Smith, Washington centre Nic Dowd and a couple of more Arizona pending free agents: defenceman Matthew Dumba and ex-penguins forward Jason Zucker.
The Montreal Canadiens have acquired forward Jacob Perreault from the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for centre Jan Mysak.
Perreault, a Montreal native, has seven goals and 11 assists, in 31 games with the American Hockey League’s San Diego Gulls this season.
He has registered 91 points (32 goals, 59 assists) in 161 AHL appearances.
The 21-year-old rightwinger made one NHL appearance with Ducks on Jan. 8, 2022, against the New York Rangers.
The son of former NHL player Yanic Perreault was selected by the Ducks in the first round (27th overall) of the 2020 NHL draft.
Mysak, selected in the second round (48th overall) by Montreal in 2020, has 13 goals and seven assists in 48 games with the AHL’S Laval Rocket this season. The native of Litvinov, Czechia, has 20 goals and 11 assists in 110 career AHL games.
Gustav Forsling, the NHL’S leader in plus-minus this season by a wide margin, and the Florida Panthers have agreed to an eight-year extension, the team announced Thursday. He was slated to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, with this season the last one he had on a threeyear, $8-million deal.
Forsling is now locked in as part of the Panthers’ core going forward along with the likes of Aleksander Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk. A person with knowledge of the agreement said Forsling will receive a deal with an annual value of $5.75 million — so $46 million in total. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to The Associated Press because the financial portion was not announced.
Forsling’s plus-minus this season is plus-43, 10 better than anyone else in the league. Since the start of the 2021-22 season, he’s plus-103, second-best in the NHL. He’s become a major part of a team that has the best record in the league this season and is in line for a second Presidents’ Trophy in the last three years.