Canadiens defenceman reportedly drawing interest from the Los Angeles Kings
The Montreal Canadiens are expected to be one of the busier teams leading up to the trade deadline on March 3rd. Not only do they have a handful of pending unrestricted free agents they'd like to offload for assets to help their rebuild, but they also have a couple players that will be under contract beyond this season that have drawn interest from teams around the league.
One of those names that has been in the rumour mill over the last little while is defenceman Joel Edmundson. Edmundson has been linked to the Edmonton Oilers, but according to TSN's Pierre LeBrun, another Western Conference team has talked to the Canadiens regarding the left-shot defenceman and that was the Los Angeles Kings.
"It's an interesting sub-plot when it comes to the Edmonton Oilers and the Los Angeles Kings, Pacific Division rivals who played each other in the first round last year: they're calling for a lot of left-handed shot defencemen," LeBrun said on Insider Trading on Tuesday. "Jakob Chychrun is at the top, both teams have expressed interest, but you can go down the list when it comes to Joel Edmundson, both teams have talked to [the Montreal Canadiens] about, [Vladislav] Gavrikov [of the Columbus Blue Jackets], so that's the fascinating part here if you're Columbus or Montreal or Arizona if you're trying to pit these teams against each other."
Edmundson, 29, has one more year on his contract following the 2022-23 season with an AAV of $3.5 million, which is definitely something a contending team can work into their cap situation. Edmundson's contract also includes a modified no-trade clause, with a ten-team no-trade list.
One thing to watch on the Edmundson front over the next few weeks is his injury status. He suffered a lower-body injury against the Detroit Red Wings on January 26th, exiting the game and Montreal's next two contests before the All-Star break.
In 39 games this season, the Brandon (Manitoba) native has six points (one goal, five assists), 39 penalty minutes and is a minus-21.
Top 10 latest hockey stories
