Edmundson deal gives Leafs much-needed grit
Left-shot defenceman also brings wealth of playoff experience to the locker-room
With one sleep left before the NHL trade deadline, the Toronto Maple Leafs joined the party by bulking up on defence and two Western Conference Stanley Cup contenders made more moves to improve in crucial areas.
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-rounder and defence prospect Jeremy Hanzel.
The Edmonton Oilers got defenceman Troy Stecher from Arizona for a fourth-rounder in 2027 and the Leafs received Joel Edmundson from Washington for a third-rounder in this year's draft and a 2025 fifth-rounder.
Colorado and Edmonton stayed active, after the Avalanche added centre Casey Mittelstadt and defenceman Sean Walker in separate deals and the Oilers gave themselves serious depth down the middle by trading with Anaheim for Adam Henrique and Sam Carrick.
Toronto's trade for Edmundson started the action Thursday, adding some much needed toughness on the blue line. He's a left shot, which the Leafs have plenty of, but his playoff experience alone makes Edmundson a potentially important acquisition for a team dreaming of an extended run this spring.
The Capitals are retaining half of what's left of Edmundson's salary after Montreal already has 50 per cent from a trade last off-season and getting a third-rounder that originally belonged to the New York Islanders.
Salary retention makes him quite the bargain for the Leafs at a cap hit of US$875,000, just above the league minimum.
Edmundson, 30, helped the St. Louis Blues win the Stanley Cup in 2019 and is a pending free agent. He has skated more than 16 minutes a game this season with Washington.
Earlier in the week, Edmundson seemed content with the possibility of being traded to a contender, though his focus at the time was on helping the Capitals.
“Everyone wants to win,” he said. “I want to win every year, so I think once you get that feeling once, you just want it to happen every year and when you see other teams win it, you just kind of get jealous and frustrated. So yeah, we all want to win it every year.”
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 noon today 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 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-yearold right-winger 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.
in plus-minus this season by a wide margin, and the Florida Panthers have agreed to an eight-year extension, the team said Thursday.
He was slated to be an unrestricted free agent this summer, with this season the last he had on a three-year, US$8 million deal.
Forsling is now locked in as part of the 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.