Joel Edmundson

The Capitals and Maple Leafs have agreed on a trade to send left-shot defenseman Joel Edmundson from Washington to Toronto, per a team release. Two draft picks – the Islanders’ 2024 third-round pick and the Blackhawks’ 2025 fifth-round pick – are heading back to Washington in the deal. The Capitals are retaining 50% of Edmundson’s already-reduced $1.75MM cap hit, bringing his cap hit down to $875K for the Maple Leafs. In a corresponding transaction to create the cap space needed for the trade, the Maple Leafs moved defenseman Conor Timmins from injured reserve to long-term injured reserve, per CapFriendly.

Edmundson, 30, has slipped to a depth role this season and is a pending UFA. After picking up Ethan Bear on the free-agent market midseason led to a defensive logjam in Washington, Edmundson looked to be on his way out after failing to solidify top-four minutes in his first season with the Caps.

The Maple Leafs have been in the market for blue-line depth for weeks, and they weren’t done after acquiring Ilya Lyubushkin from the Ducks last week for his second stint with the team. For the past few days, they’ve been linked to Edmundson, who can play both left and right defense and stands at a hulking 6-foot-5 and 224 pounds.

Edmundson’s production and possession metrics don’t move the needle much. Still, he does carry a massive advantage in playoff experience over other Leafs blue-liners who have been in their bottom-pairing rotation as of late, like Maxime Lajoie and William Lagesson. He’s sitting on a goal and six points in 44 games this season, and the Manitoba native’s 16:26 average time on ice is the lowest in quite a while. His possession metrics don’t paint him as an extreme liability after a disastrous 2022-23 campaign with the Canadiens, posting a 1.2 relative CF% at even strength and 47.4 xGF% (per Hockey Reference). There were some better shutdown options on the market, though.

Over 521 career games with the Blues, Canadiens, Capitals, and Hurricanes, Edmundson has 29 goals, 81 assists, 110 points, and a +18 rating, averaging 18:30 per game. After winning the Stanley Cup with St. Louis in 2019 and spending the following season in Carolina, he signed a four-year, $14MM contract ($3.5MM cap hit) with Montreal that expires this summer. The Caps acquired him for a third-round and seventh-round pick last offseason, with Montreal retaining 50% of his cap hit. Since Edmundson’s contract had already been involved in a prior retained salary transaction, the Caps and Leafs could not have used a third party to retain additional salary in this trade.

He’s not afraid to use his body, blocking 822 shots and recording 979 hits throughout his nine-year career. However, that hasn’t translated into positive possession quality for Edmundson’s team with him on the ice. He’s recorded an xGF% above 50 twice in his career, not since 2021, when he reached the Stanley Cup Final with Montreal. Last season was an especially difficult campaign for him, recording 23 points in 61 games with a career-worst -29 rating and a 42.9 xGF%.

Edmundson now moves from one team with a defensive logjam to another. Lyubushkin has settled in nicely on a pairing with Morgan Rielly since his acquisition, meaning Edmundson, Timmins, Simon Benoit, Mark Giordano, and Timothy Liljegren will now all compete for the fifth and sixth spots on the Toronto blue line when everyone is healthy.

The Maple Leafs don’t have an open roster spot for Edmundson yet, although CapFriendly reports Lagesson has been removed from the active roster and will likely hit waivers at 1 p.m. CT.

Former NHL and AHL defenseman Jordan Schmaltz was first to report that Edmundson had been traded to Toronto.

Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic was first to report that the Capitals were retaining 50% of his cap hit.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was first to report the return.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports.