The Bruins are one of the more intriguing teams at the NHL trade deadline with no shortage of directions they could go. According to one report, Don Sweeney might be zeroing in on his first move.
TSN’s Darren Dreger reported Thursday morning the Bruins are among a few teams eyeing Washington Capitals defenseman Joel Edmundson. According to Dreger, Boston currently is the leader in the chase to land the blue liner.
The Bruins certainly could use some help on the left side of the defense, especially if Hampus Lindholm won’t soon return from an undisclosed injury.
The 30-year-old Edmundson would give Boston some needed size on the back end, too. Standing 6-foot-5 and weighing 224 pounds, Edmundson is as big as they come and unsurprisingly has considerable reach around the net. That’s the sort of thing that does seem to check a major box for a Bruins team that has really struggled to close games this season and protect its net in late-game situations.
Edmundson is also affordable, even for a cap-strapped team like the Bruins. Montreal is already paying half of his $3.5 million cap hit retained in a trade with Washington, and the Capitals could retain half of the remaining hit to bring him down under $1 million.
He has just one goal and five assists in 44 games this season for the Caps, so Edmundson wouldn’t bring much in the offensive end. But he could certainly be a solid addition to Jim Montgomery’s defense corps and can also kill penalties.
Edmundson also has plenty of playoff experience, appearing in 75 career postseason games. He has his name on the Stanley Cup, as he was part of the St. Louis team that beat the Bruins in 2019 when he was part of a massive group of defensemen that wore down Boston’s forwards over a seven-game series. Now, it looks like Sweeney and the Bruins would like to be on the other side of that as the postseason approaches.
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