Caps Add Edmundson

As the NHL's free agency emporium opened for business on Saturday afternoon, the Caps swung a deal to add a veteran defenseman to their roster. Washington sends Minnesota's third-round pick and the Caps' seventh-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft to Montreal in exchange for lefty defenseman Joel Edmundson. The Habs will retain half of the remaining money on Edmundson's deal, a four-year, $14 million pact that expires at the end of the 2023-24 season. Edmundson's cap hit to the Capitals will be $1.75 million of the $3.5 million he will earn for the upcoming campaign.

A native of Brandon, Man., Edmundson is 6-foot-5 and weighs 221 pounds. He was originally a second-round choice (46th overall) of the St. Louis Blues in the 2011 NHL Draft. An eight-year NHL veteran, the 30-year-old skated with St. Louis for his first four seasons in the League, played a season in Carolina, and spent the last three seasons with the Habs. In 477 career NHL games, Edmundson has amassed 28 goals, 76 assists and 104 points to go along with 438 PIM. Over his eight seasons in the NHL, Edmundson has averaged 18:42 of ice time per game, eclipsing the 20-minute mark in 2017-18 (20:44) with the Blues and in 2020-21 (20:03) with the Habs.

Edmundson's career includes a pair of deep playoff runs that culminated in Stanley Cup Final appearances; he was a member of the Blues' 2019 Cup champion squad and he was with the Canadiens when they advanced to the Final two years later.

Among all NHL defensemen, Edmundson finished second in average shorthanded ice time per game (3:19) last season. He is typically deployed in a shutdown/penalty killing type role, but he has scored as many as seven goals in a season twice in his NHL career, and has reached the 20-point plateau once as well. Edmundson served as an alternate captain in Montreal.

With the addition of Edmundson, the Caps now have Edmundson, Rasmus Sandin, Alex Alexeyev and restricted free agent Martin Fehervary on the left side of their blueline, with John Carlson, Nick Jensen and Trevor van Riemsdyk on the right side.