St. Louis Blues: Is It Time To Move On From Joel Edmundson?
As the Stanley Cup finds its way into the arms of St. Louis Blues defensemen Joel Edmundson today, let’s assess his future with the hockey club.
Joel Edmundson had a rocky season with the St. Louis Blues. At times, he showed the capability to be a top-4 defenceman on the team and at other times, proved to be a defensive liability.
Edmundson currently sits as an unrestricted free agent after signing a one-year deal before the start of the 2018-19 season. He has never had a cap hit of more than $1.1 million but figures to be in for a pay raise this offseason.
Now, how much Edmundson will get is entirely dependent on resigning the remaining four RFAs the Blues have. It’s hard to imagine he will earn more than $3 million based off the inconsistencies of last season.
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It might be in the team’s best interest to move on from Edmundson this offseason. The Blues are loaded with defensive talent and have plenty of depth in their system.
St. Louis already announced contracts for Jay Bouwmeester and Carl Gunnarsson this offseason, and have also signed depth defenceman, 25-year-old Derrick Pouliot to a one year deal.
Assuming the Blues get Edmundson signed to a reasonable deal in the near future, I do not foresee moving him to be a big problem. He’s proven he can handle some of the biggest names in the league, but the lack of consistency performances may warrant a change of scenery.
A year ago, Edmundson played in 64 of the team’s 82 regular season games. Playing primarily with either Alex Pietrangelo or Colton Parayko, Edmundson registered 11 points and was a plus-minus eight.
Edmundson did manage to appear in 22 of the Blues’ Stanley Cup Playoff games, netting a goal and six assists en route to his and the team’s first ever Stanley Cup.
His playoff history has been primarily positive. During the 2016-17 run, Edmundson acquired three goals and three assists in 11 games played.
The reasoning behind trading the 26-year-old is not because of his lack of production, but the slow clearing of the cap space. After signing Zach Sanford to a two-year deal, the Blues have an estimated $12 million left to spend.
Trading his $2 or $3 million contract will not have as significant of an impact as trading Jake Allen or Alex Steen, but it would add some much-needed flexibility.
St. Louis could eventually bring up the likes of Mitch Reinke or Niko Mikkola to fill the seventh defense spot, and the recent retirement of Chris Butler will not motivate the Blues to trade away NHL-ready defencemen.
A return for Edmundson will not be groundbreaking, though it could net a mid to late round pick in addition to the cap relief mentioned earlier.
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The Blues should be fine defensively if they were to move on from Edmundson this summer. However, the only thing that would make me comfortable in trading the 26-year-old would be if one of the kids separated themselves from the pack during training camp.