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Alex Edler

Alex Edler Expected to Miss 4-6 Weeks

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The Vancouver Canucks tweeted that head coach Travis Green announced defenseman Alexander Edler will miss four to six weeks with an MCL strain. He had suffered what then was referred to a “lower body injury” after Thursday’s game against the Winnipeg Jets when he attempted to hit Jets’ forward Mark Scheifele against the boards, but injured himself instead.

Edler is no stranger to injuries. He missed time in November of last season when he fractured his index finger and then missed more time when he fractured his leg in February. He only managed to get into 68 games last year and 52 games in 2015-16 due to a fractured fibula. The blueliner has only managed to play in a full 82-game season once in his career, back in 2011-12.

The 31-year-old defenseman has played in three games, picking up one assist so far this year. He was averaging more than 24 minutes of ice time in each of the first two games before getting injured in Thursday’s game.

Green also said that defenseman Derrick Pouliot will be making his Vancouver debut today to fill in for Edler. Pouliot, acquired at the beginning of the season from the Pittsburgh Penguins for Andrey Pedan and a fourth-round pick in the 2018 draft, has not played a game yet for Vancouver. The team decided to roll the dice with Pouliot when they traded for him as the former eighth overall pick in 2012 has potential, but hasn’t been able to carve out a regular role in the NHL yet. He had seven goals and 23 points in 46 games for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins last year, while putting up no points in 11 games for Pittsburgh.

 

 

Salary Cap Deep Dive: Vancouver Canucks

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Navigating the Salary Cap is probably one of the more important tasks for any general manager to have. Teams that can avert total cap chaos by walking the tightrope of inking players to deals that match their value (or compensate for future value without breaking the bank) remain successful. Those that don’t see struggles and front office changes.

PHR will look at every NHL team and give a thorough look at their cap situation heading into the 2017-18 season. This will focus more on those players who are integral parts of the roster versus those who may find themselves shuttling between the AHL and NHL. All cap figures are courtesy of CapFriendly.

Vancouver Canucks

Current Cap Hit: $73,012,499 (under the $75MM Upper Limit)

Entry-Level Contracts

F Brock Boeser (Two years remaining, $925K)
F Jake Virtanen (One year remaining, $894K)

Potential Bonuses

Boeser: $850K
Virtanen: $850K

Boeser is one of the Canucks hope for the future. The team’s 2015 first-round pick has been playing exceptionally well in camp and looks ready to take a major role on the team. After two years at the University of North Dakota, Boeser managed to play in nine games for Vancouver last year, putting up four goals and an assist in that span and averaged 2.78 shots per game as well. Virtanen, on the other hand is just trying to cement a starting role on the team. The sixth overall pick in the 2014 draft, Virtanen has been disappointing and has had trouble finding a role with the club, playing 55 games two years ago and then settling for just 10 games last year. A solid camp so far suggests, he might have turned it around as he looks to take his game to the next level.

One Year Remaining, Non-Entry-Level

F Daniel Sedin ($7MM, UFA)
F Henrik Sedin ($7MM, UFA)
D Erik Gudbranson ($3.5MM, UFA)
F Thomas Vanek ($2MM, UFA)
F Sven Baertschi ($1.85MM, RFA)
D Troy Stecher ($925K, RFA)
F Markus Granlund ($900K, RFA)
F Alexander Burmistrov ($900K, RFA)
F Anton Rodin ($700K, UFA)
F Reid Boucher ($688K, RFA)
D Patrick Wiercioch ($625K, UFA)

On a positive note, there are many contracts that are set to expire next year, which could give the Canucks quite a bit of cap space. What the team will do with the Sedin brothers, long-time franchise players, is still up in the air. Rumors that they have no interest in going to a contender to finish out their careers suggest that they may choose to retire or sign up for a much shorter, much cheaper deal with Vancouver. While both have been leading the franchise, their numbers have begun to decline now that they are 36 years old with Daniel Sedin putting up just 15 goals and 44 points a year ago, while brother Henrik also just putting up 15 goals and 51 points.

There are very few potential unrestricted free agents that are critical to the team’s building of the future. While Gudbranson is just 25 years old, the team has shown a willingness to move on from the defenseman and has been talked about in trade rumors all offseason. The former third-overall pick in 2010 didn’t fare well in his first year in Vancouver, suffering a wrist injury and playing in only 30 games. The team may want to move on before they lose him. Vanek, signed late in the offseason, is also likely a trade chip at the trade deadline.

As for restricted free agents, the team still has high hopes that Baertschi will continue to improve. After struggling to break into the Calgary Flames starting unit, Vancouver picked him up and got 15 goals in 2015-16 and another 18 last year. The 24-year-old could easily wind up on the team’s second line and have a big year. Granlund, 24, is another youngster who stepped up a year ago, putting up 19 goals as a full-time starter. Stecher will also be a free agent. The 23-year-old undrafted free agent had a solid rookie season after coming to the Canucks from the University of North Dakota. He is penciled in as a first-line defender. The team also has high hopes they can turn around Burmistrov’s career. The former top-10 pick in 2010 was signed away from Arizona with the hopes he can fill a need in the bottom six.

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Edler’s IIHF Success May Force Vancouver To Move Him

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The Vancouver Canucks may have to expedite their rebuilding plan as Vancouver Sun’s Jeff Paterson suggests with the recent success of Team Sweden in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) World Championships, veteran defenseman Alexander Edler may re-consider his position in Vancouver. The success of Sweden over the past two weeks and most recently today when they captured the gold medal, may have given the defenseman a will to compete for a Stanley Cup rather than languish with the Canucks who are not anywhere near that level.

Edler, who has spent his entire career in Vancouver, has two years left at $5MM, and at 31 years old, this may be the best time to move on. He finished the season with six goals and 15 assists in 68 games this past season. Paterson writes that Edler must see the success of some of his former teammates such as Ryan Kesler and Kevin Bieksa in Anaheim as well as Alexandre Burrows in Ottawa. And with many teams need for a top-four defenseman, there should be plenty of trade interest if Edler wishes it.

The veteran blueliner does have a No Movement Clause, but that would only benefit Edler as he can have a say to which team he could get traded to. On top of that, with two years left on his contract, any team that trades for him would get him for two post-season runs. Paterson compares Edler to that of Dion Phaneuf in Ottawa, who took a role as a second-line defenseman there and has thrived for the Senators. The same could hold true for Edler.

A trade like this could also be beneficial to the Canucks. While they would likely net a good haul for the defensive-minded blueliner, the team would also open up a spot on their protection roster for the upcoming expansion draft and free up cap space to further enhance their rebuilding process.

Pacific Notes: Redmond, Edler, Couture, Pitlick

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The Ducks have joined in the NCAA signing frenzy once again, announcing the signing of goaltender Angus Redmond to a three year, entry level contract.  Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The 21 year old Redmond recently completed his first and only season at Michigan Tech, compiling a 22-10-5 record along with a 1.85 GAA, a .917 SV%, and four shutouts in 38 appearances.  His goals against average ranked third in Division I among full-time starters while he was named WCHA Rookie of the Week on four separate occasions.

The Ducks are banking on Redmond being a late bloomer as he went undrafted after spending parts of four seasons with Salmon Arm of the BCHL.

Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:

  • Canucks defenseman Alex Edler noted to TSN 1040 (audio link) that he hasn’t given any thought to how he might respond if GM Jim Benning approached him about waiving his no-trade clause. Benning has been on record suggesting that he’d be willing to move a blueliner for help up front.  Between that and Vancouver’s current situation as a team that appears to be heading for a rebuild, it’s certainly plausible that the team could approach the 30 year old, the elder statesman on their back end, about his willingness to be moved sometime this offseason.  Edler has two years left on his deal after this one with a cap hit of $5MM.
  • The Sharks will be without center Logan Couture tonight and for at least the next two games after that as he is not with the team on their current road trip, reports CSN Bay Area’s Kevin Kurz. There remains no timetable for his return to the lineup.  Couture took a puck to the mouth on Saturday against the Predators and needed a considerable amount of dental work to repair the damage.  It wouldn’t be surprising to see him play with a full face shield once he gets the green light to return.
  • Oilers right winger Tyler Pitlick has started skating lightly as he continues his rehab from ACL surgery, notes Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal. The injury occurred back in mid-December.  Despite the fact that he’s on the ice, he’s not expected to return this season.

Western Conference Snapshots: DeBoer, Canucks, Spezza

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Player development is instrumental to a team’s success in today’s NHL. The salary cap forces teams to waive goodbye to key veterans every year and integrating young players on ELC’s is the most effective way to replace the talent lost. Having a coaching staff that can mold young talent into quality NHL players simplifies that process and speeds up the player’s development. Kevin Kurz of CSN Bay Area writes that Sharks bench boss Pete DeBoer has done an exemplary job of doing just that in San Jose, despite a reputation from his previous job that suggested otherwise.

One of the reasons DeBoer was fired in New Jersey was his apparent unwillingness to utilize the team’s younger players. However, as Kurz points out, Stefan Matteau, Mattias Tedenby and Eric Gelinas, prospects DeBoer was criticized for not developing while with the Devils, have managed little in the way of NHL success since the coach was let go by New Jersey. On the flip side, the way DeBoer has handled players like Tomas Hertl, Dylan DeMelo and Kevin Lebanc has demonstrated he knows which buttons to push and when to push them in order to further a prospect’s development. And as Kurz notes, when DeBoer recognizes a player is simply not ready for big league action, he has no problem shipping that player back to the minors even if the decision doesn’t sit well with fans.

Elsewhere in the Western Conference:

  • In a highly entertaining piece for The Province, Jason Botchford touches on a number of Canuck-related topics. Chief among them is his assertion that veteran defenseman Alex Edler would be a valuable addition to any contending team’s blue line. It’s an interesting notion as Edler certainly would add loads of experience and is still an effective second-pair defender at this stage of his career. He has been a top-pair blue liner for Vancouver this season, averaging better than 24 minutes a contest while registering 10 points in 39 games, but would certainly be better off with less ice time on a playoff contender. Teams may also be hesitant to absorb the remaining two years on his deal, which come with an AAV of $5MM each. Edler also owns a NTC as part of his contract but might be willing to waive that for the right situation. It’s not inconceivable that a contender desperate for a boost on the back end would give the Canucks a call to see what it would take to pry the veteran Swede away from Vancouver.
  • The Dallas Stars announced this afternoon that they have placed veteran center Jason Spezza on IR retroactive to February 2nd. The team has been ravaged by injuries to key contributors all season and Spezza is just the latest example of the Stars bad luck with health. Spezza has just eight goals on the season but is fifth on the team in points with 31. He will be eligible to be activated off of IR tomorrow. Mike Heika of The Dallas Morning News adds that the move might be procedural to allow the team to recall a player from the minors, either to practice with the club or for tomorrow’s game. The team was at the 23-man roster limit but now have an open spot should they decide to take that course of action.

Latest From Insider Trading: Coaches, Jets, Canucks

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The all-star reporter panel at TSN comprised of Darren Dreger, Bob McKenzie and Pierre LeBrun took to the air again today with their latest segment of Insider Trading. They touched on both Claude Julien and Ken Hitchcock, two of the big coaching names that have been fired recently, saying both will likely wait until the summer to take another job. McKenzie said that Hitchcock would consider a move to a long-term situation if he finds a fit, but wouldn’t “come out of the bullpen” so to speak.

It will be interesting to see what this means for the Vegas club, which now has a very established list of coaches to try to bring in if they choose to go that way. It’s been said before that Vegas likely wants a big presence for their first coach to try and make a splash in the market, and it’s not clear if Julien, Hitchcock or even Gerard Gallant would fit that mold.

  • LeBrun insisted again that the Chicago Blackhawks sound like they’ll be very quiet at the deadline this year because of their cap issues. As much as Stan Bowman keeps saying that the Hawks won’t make another bold move at the deadline, it’s hard to believe that they won’t try to make at least a slight upgrade for another run. They still need help on the wing and remember that they do have three extra (albeit late round) draft picks for this season in hand.
  • The Vancouver Canucks are falling out of the picture after a successful middle stretch of the season, and will now start to field questions for their top players. McKenzie relates that even though GM Jim Benning said prior to the season that he would not ask any players to waive their no-trade clauses, he now admits that he would got to them with options if teams were calling on them. Goaltender Ryan Miller and forward Alex Burrows were mentioned specifically, but remember that Alex Edler and Brandon Sutter also have NTCs and would bring back solid returns in trade should the Canucks decide to completely tear it down.
  • After the Jets got some terrible news on the defensive front with Tyler Myers undergoing another surgery, Dreger says they’ll be hard pressed to find a replacement. GM Kevin Cheveldayoff had already been looking around for some depth on the blueline, and now has even more problems to try and fix. It will be interesting to see where the Jets are in another two weeks and whether they need to add to try and make a deep playoff push or sell off some expiring assets.
  • LeBrun does also mention the past reports that the Ottawa Senators kicked the tires on both Matt Duchene and Gabriel Landeskog, but says that it didn’t get very far. Ottawa isn’t willing to part with the kind of package that the Avalanche are currently asking for, though would be open to negotiation should it fall. Both Avalanche forwards seem like tough bets to move in-season, but if the team is committed to shaking up the core, Ottawa could come back to the table in the summer.

Pacific Division Notes: Gudbranson, Mueller

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The Vancouver Canucks finsihed 12 points behind Minnesota for the final playoff berth in the Western Conference in 2015-16 and with many of their best players – Henrik Sedin, Daniel Sedin, Alex Edler and Ryan Miller – all on the wrong side of 30, many thought it was time for the organization to embrace a full rebuild. Instead Vancouver inked veteran scoring forward Loui Eriksson in free agency and dealt young prospect Jared McCann along with a second-round pick to Florida for experienced defenseman Erik Gudbranson; moves that suggested the front office had every reason of contending in 2016-17. While the team sits just three points out of a playoff berth and with roughly two-thirds of the season remaining, it’s still more likely Vancouver will be a lottery team as opposed to a serious postseason contender. Now, with Gudbranson scheduled to reach restricted free agency next summer and likely in line for a marked raise over his $3.5MM cap hit, Vancouver will have to make a tough decision on what to do with the physical blue liner, as Jason Brough of Pro Hockey Talk writes.

As Brough explains, the Canucks have unexpectedly received strong play from rookie Troy Stecher, who has six points in 18 games, and already have Chris Tanev signed long term. Both are right-side defenders, as is Gudbranson, and a strong case can be made that they deserve top-four slots ahead of the former Florida Panther. In that case, Vancouver GM Jim Benning may not want to pay market value for Gudbranson, assuming he would be no more than a third-pair blue liner.

Benning has indicated that his newfound back end depth may allow him to trade a defenseman for a forward:

“We have depth on defense. We’ve rebuilt our defense. (Nikita) Tryamkin is 22 years old, (Troy) Stecher is 22 years old. (Alex) Edler at 30 is our oldest defenseman, so we have a young, good group back there. We have depth back there. So if we look to make a move, we’d have to use some of our depth on the blue line to add a forward.”

Gudbranson’s value is also difficult to project. The analytical community is not a fan, citing his substandard possession numbers – 48.7% career CF% – and his lack of offense. The towering blue liner has tallied just 48 career points in 336 NHL regular season games; good for a per-82-game-average of 11.7. With the league always looking for more offense and team’s prioritizing puck moving capabilities from its blue liners, there may not be as much of a trade market this summer for a player of Gudbranson’s ilk.

However, teams that value intangibles may be willing to overlook the advanced stats. But first, Vancouver has to decide whether they project Gudbranson to be a top-four defender and if not, are they going to be willing to extend the former third overall pick to a contract with an AAV in excess of $4MM or $5MM.

Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:

  • Defenseman Mirco Mueller has been recalled by the San Jose Sharks, according to the official website of their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda. Curtis Pashelka of the San Jose Mercury News relays that the team’s head coach, Peter DeBoer, has not yet decided whether Mueller will be in the lineup this evening. However, Kevin Kurz of CSN Bay Area believes it is likely the former first-round pick will sit out tonight. Mueller has appeared in 50 NHL games with the Sharks, netting one goal and four points. He has yet to suit up this season for the Sharks. Mueller has six points in 17 games with the Barracuda.

Alex Edler To Miss Four To Six Weeks

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The Vancouver Canucks will be down another top defenseman for the next little while as the team announced (via Twitter) that Alex Edler will miss the next four to six weeks with a fractured index finger.  The team also noted that he will undergo surgery to repair that finger later today.

While Edler is off to a slow start statistically (a goal and two assists through 21 games), he is still logging some heavy minutes for the Canucks, averaging a team high 23:42 per game.  With Chris Tanev (lower body) also on IR, Edler had been their go-to blueliner in all situations.

Injuries have been an issue for the 30 year old.  Last season, he missed 29 games with a fractured fibula while he has had various other lower body ailments in the years before that as well.  He has played a full 82-game season just once in his career, back in 2011-12.

Taking Edler’s place on the roster will be defenseman Alex Biega, who has been recalled from his conditioning stint, Sportsnet’s Irfaan Gaffar reports (Twitter link).  He got into just one game with AHL Utica which matches the number of NHL games he has played so far this season, spending most of the time as a healthy scratch.

Edler and Tanev aren’t the only Vancouver defensemen missing either as Philip Larsen is also on IR due to an illness and there is no timetable for his return.  With Biega’s recall, Vancouver is now carrying just the minimum number of healthy defensemen so another recall isn’t out of the question either if Larsen isn’t ready to play soon.

[Related: Canucks Depth Chart]

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