Should the Canucks give Alex Edler a shot to continue his NHL career?
Alex Edler is widely considered the most decorated defenceman in Vancouver Canucks history.
But, after leaving the Canucks in 2021, is there a path for the 37-year-old to return to Vancouver?
Edler remains an unsigned free agent just days before the start of NHL training camps across the NHL.
While it’s plausible that he might retire, his comments to Los Angeles Kings reporters last April suggested that he wants to continue playing.
“I’m not sure [if I want to continue playing],” Edler told reporters in April. “The easy answer would be to keep playing until I’m 45 or something like that, but there’s a lot of factors with getting a new contract, seeing how the body feels, and talking to my family. We’ll see.”
“I would like to play as long as I can.”
Canucks have an opening for Edler
One of the biggest openings in the Canucks’ lineup is the left-defence spot on the third pairing.
No one in Canucks history has logged more minutes playing left defence than Edler.
Right now, the combatants for that third pairing left-defence spot are Christian Wolanin, Akito Hirose, Matt Irwin, Jack Rathbone, and Guillaume Brisebois.
While there’s intrigue with a number of those players, none of them are locks to be NHL regulars next season.
That’s where the idea of bringing Edler in on a PTO makes sense.
In an ideal scenario, one of the four inexperienced defenders battling for that third-pairing spot stands out during camp and makes the decision easy for Rick Tocchet and the Canucks coaching staff.
Realistically though, there will be some hesitation about whoever wins that spot. The quartet of Wolanin, Hirose, Rathbone, and Brisebois have only 148 games of combined NHL experience. Wolanin has the most having played 86 career games, but he’s 28 years old and has never played more than 30 NHL games in a single season.
Edler, on the other hand, brings 1,030 games of NHL experience to the table.
The other glaring reason to consider bringing Edler back, is his experience on the penalty kill. He was solid on the PK throughout his Canucks career, and perhaps it’s not a coincidence that the Canucks shorthanded statistics have tanked ever since Edler left the Canucks.
Does Edler still have gas left in the tank?
There are a couple of reasons why it probably doesn’t make sense to bring Edler back to Vancouver.
Firstly, his lack of foot speed is a major issue. That was evident with the Kings last season, and it was a major reason why his ice time dropped to 14:46 per game, and just 12:03 per game in the playoffs.
Another main reason why bringing back Edler might not make sense, is because his third-pairing partner would likely be Tyler Myers.
Neither Edler nor Myers is quick at this point in their career, and it could create some major matchup problems for the Canucks on the third pairing.
Edler and Myers also had an underwhelming 45.4% expected goals for total, and that doesn’t take into account that both players are now older than they were when they played together. Currently, the 33-year-old Myers is the third-oldest Canuck on the roster, behind only new additions Ian Cole (34 years old) and the aforementioned Irwin (35).
Speaking of Irwin, he’s basically the player that Vancouver signed to fill the Edler role: someone who can fill in and be a reliable depth option if needed, but likely not someone who should be in the lineup every night.
If Edler were to continue his NHL career in 2023-24, whether in Vancouver or elsewhere, it probably makes sense for him to slot in as a seventh defencemen, one who aims to play maybe 50% of his teams games as opposed to being an everyday player.
- You might also like:
- Ex-Canucks defenceman Juolevi trying out for a new NHL team