The Toronto Maple Leafs joined the NHL trade deadline party Thursday by acquiring defenseman Joel Edmundson from the Washington Capitals.
Toronto sent a third-round pick in this year’s draft, originally the New York Islanders’ selection, and a 2025 fifth to Washington for the rugged defender. Edmundson gives the team some needed toughness on the blue line, even as a left shot, which it already has plenty of.
The Capitals are retaining half of what’s left of Edmundson’s salary after Montreal already has 50% from a trade last offseason. That makes him quite the bargain for the Leafs at a cap hit of $875,000, just above the league minimum.
Edmundson, 30, helped the St. Louis Blues win the Stanley Cup in 2019 and is a pending free agent. He has skated more than 16 minutes a game this season with Washington.
Earlier in the week, Edmundson seemed content with the possibility of being traded to a contender, though his focus at the time was on helping the Capitals.
“Everyone wants to win,” he said. “I want to win every year, so I think once you get that feeling once, you just want it to happen every year and when you see other teams win it, you just kind of get jealous and frustrated. So yeah, we all want to win it every year.”
Toronto’s move for Edmundson comes after a flurry of trades made Wednesday by the New York Rangers, Colorado Avalanche, Florida Panthers, Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers. Nine of FanDuel Sportsbook’s top 11 Cup favorites, have added at least one significant player since the All-Star break, going back to Vancouver getting Elias Lindholm and Winnipeg trading for Sean Monahan igniting the wheeling and dealing in the Western Conference and Dallas acquiring Chris Tanev.
Lindholm, a pending free agent still without an extension, has been mentioned to be dealt again this week, as the Canucks consider trying to get a scoring winger — potentially Jake Guentzel from Pittsburgh or Tyler Toffoli from New Jersey. With those players, Washington’s Nic Dowd and St. Louis’ Pavel Buchnevich among those available, Boston Bruins and Carolina Hurricanes also could be active before the 3 p.m. EST deadline Friday.
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