Canucks defenseman Alex Edler has been part of trade speculation for several years now but nothing has come of it. Now, the Swedish blueliner is in the final year of his contract and accordingly, he has been scouted quite frequently in the early going this season, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported in an appearance on Sportsnet 650 (audio link). While Vancouver is off to a good start this season, the expectation is that they’ll eventually become sellers and Edler would likely be at the forefront of those efforts. He’s off to a solid start with five points through nine games while leading the team in playing time at 24:28 per contest and would be a top-four upgrade for many contending teams. However, the 32-year-old has a full no-trade clause so he would have the ability to control where he ultimately winds up.
More from the Pacific:
- In an appearance on Insider Trading (video link), TSN’s Darren Dreger noted that Kings defenseman Alec Martinez has come up in trade speculation lately. Los Angeles has not gotten off to a particularly strong start this season which has led to an expectation that a move involving a notable player or head coach John Stevens will be made. Martinez would certainly draw considerable interest around the league as a top-four player that can play the right side with a team-friendly cap hit of $4MM through the 2020-21 season. Through nine games this season, the 31-year-old has a pair of assists while logging 21:28 per night of ice time.
- Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun has been cleared for contact, reports Craig Morgan of The Athletic (Twitter link). He has missed the entire season thus far as he works his way back from surgery to repair a torn ACL. GM John Chayka had previously indicated that once Chychrun got this green light, he’d be about two weeks away from being declared as ready to play.