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Sportsnet: Eric Engels on The Jeff Marek Show – No lead is safe anymore, but why? on what the Montreal Canadiens could get in return for defenseman Joel Edmundson.
Marek: “I remember a conversation you and I had about Ben Chiarot last year, was early in the season, and you said Jeff, I think Ben Chiarot can get a first-round pick for the Montreal Canadiens, and I said, comment dit-on en français tu reves en technicolor mon ami, you dream in technicolor my friend. But sure enough, you were right and I was wrong.
So, under that umbrella, what can Montreal get for Joel Edmundson.
Engels: “Well I think unlike Chiarot, Joel Edmundson has one more year at $3.5 million and depending on who you ask around the NHL, either a good thing or a scary thing.
The cap being what it is, the potential for it to only rise $1 million, and the idea that, like Joel Edmundson right now is a first-pairing defenseman in Montreal because Kaiden Guhle is hurt. He’s not a first-pairing defenseman for which ever team acquires him.
And they’ll have to have him for one more year. And yes it’s another opportunity to have that type of guy around for a Cup run and that’s the whole value of getting him a year ahead of free agency instead of giving up for a rental. But at the same time he’s had an injury history over the last few years with this back. Where right now he’s healthy and not playing injured.
It’s hard to pin down what the value will be. I think there will be a lot of teams interested but there will be some that will be scared of that extra year, and there will be some that will value that extra year for exactly what we’re talking about.
In the meantime, he’s not playing his best hockey but that also needs to be put into context. He’s in a higher chair than he would be for any team that would be acquiring him. And on a nightly basis he’s been playing with a rookie defenseman, no matter which rookie it is. Usually playing the wrong side. And he also started the season, 12 to 15 games late, whatever it was because of the injury that he was dealing with, without training camp for a second straight year.
So I think teams understand that. I think the scouts understand that. I think they know what the players is, his character is on and off the ice. I think he represents the best opportunity for the Canadiens to recoup a 2023 first-round pick. I don’t know they necessarily will be able to. If they can’t, I don’t know if they’ll necessarily trade the player because there’s no urgency to necessarily do that.
So, we’ll see. But I know that there are a few teams that are definitely interested in the player and so long as there are a few, that opens up the market and the opportunity for the Canadiens to recoup the type of asset they like to have if they trade him.”