It doesn’t appear labor uncertainty will keep the Canucks from doing their business.
Shortly after learning talks were underway with winger Alex Burrows on an extension, Brad Ziemer of the Vancouver Sun reports the club will soon begin negotiations on a new deal with defenseman Alex Edler.
“It is safe to assume we will be commencing discussions with Alex’s representative [agent Mark Stowe] in a short period of time,” Canucks assistant GM Gilman told Ziemer.
Edler’s heading into the final year of a four-year, $13 million deal that pays $3.25 million annually -- the fifth-highest cap hit among Vancouver defensemen behind Kevin Bieksa and Jason Garrison ($4.6 million each), Dan Hamhuis ($4.5 million) and Keith Ballard ($4.2 million).
Given that Edler led all Canucks defensemen with a career-high 11 goals and 49 points last season, that pay scale could soon change.
The 26-year-old Swede is the youngest of the aforementioned five blueliners and finished tied for 13th in Norris voting this year with Chicago’s Duncan Keith, Phoenix’s Keith Yandle and Winnipeg’s Dustin Byfuglien.
It’s possible Edler could be eying the five-year, $28.75 million deal fellow Swedish defenseman Tobias Enstrom (27 years old) inked with the Jets a couple of weeks ago.
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