Montreal Canadiens: Edmundson trade means more changes coming
More changes to the Montreal Canadiens blueline are coming even after trading for Joel Edmundson.
Last week, the Montreal Canadiens made an eyebrow-raising move by trading for the rights to soon-to-be unrestricted free agent defenseman Joel Edmundson of the Carolina Hurricanes. They gave up a fifth-round pick for him. Though the trade may seem small at face value, if you read between the lines, it tells us a lot.
Now, this fifth-round pick wasn’t a conditional pick. It’s a concrete fifth-round pick, whether the Canadiens wind up signing Edmundson or not. They wouldn’t have traded for him unless they have serious interest in signing him. So one should assume the Canadiens are going to sign Edmundson.
This leaves Montreal with five left-handed options on the NHL roster – Ben Chariot, Brett Kulak, Edmundson, Alexander Romanov, and Victor Mete. They could also have Xavier Ouellet, who’s a restricted free agent. Though Mete is left-handed, he’ll likely be on the right side, so really, they have four.
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The Canadiens could simply send Romanov to the AHL. But let’s be real, they didn’t agree to only give Romanov a two-year ELC just to send him to the AHL. The Canadiens were willing to do it because they want him in the NHL now. Putting him in the press box makes no sense. It’s fair to assume Romanov is going to be given every possible opportunity to crack the opening night roster.
Now, Edmundson’s coming off a deal which paid him $3.1 million last season. He’s probably going to want something in the $3 million to $4 million range. The Canadiens have plenty of cap space to play with, but let’s not kid ourselves. You don’t pay someone that much money to be an extra defenseman.
This leaves us with the $1 million question (with no lifelines). Who’s the odd man out? It’s clearly not going to be Chariot. Shea Weber and Chariot were quite effective together last season. The same could be said for Jeff Petry and Kulak. In fact, they were arguably more effective than Chariot and Weber.
On paper, you could just put Edmundson on the third pairing. But where does this leave Romanov? Either in the press box (which isn’t happening), in the AHL (which would make burning a year of his entry-level contract look really questionable) or next to Edmundson (which would put Victor Mete’s future in question).
No matter how you slice it, acquiring Edmundson means changes are coming for the Montreal Canadiens. They’re trading someone, whether it’s Kulak or Mete. The Canadiens will likely try to trade either Kulak or Mete for a forward.
My guess? Mete will be traded. He’s the most expendable, as he’s at best a third-pairing defenseman. Mete’s very good, but he’s not passing Petry or Weber on the depth chart on the right side. They could put him on his natural side, but remember, the left side is already crowded enough without factoring in Mete.
Kulak is an option as well. He’s a controllable top-four defenseman signed for just $1.85 million a year for the next two seasons. But one would think the Canadiens would prefer to keep Kulak, who’s a proven top-four defenseman.
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It should be very interesting to see with the Canadiens do next. But one thing’s for sure. The Canadiens blueline right now is going to look different from their blueline on Opening Night, whenever that is.