Scratch another potential name off the unrestricted free agent list.
On Thursday morning, the Vancouver Canucks announced that they had signed veteran defenseman Alex Edler to a two-year contract extension. The deal comes with an annual average value of $6 million. Edler and fellow Swede Loui Eriksson are tied for the highest cap hit on the team.
This deal appears to make sense for both sides, as Edler will be fairly compensated financially and the Canucks didn’t have to give a 33-year-old player with a long injury history a third year on his new contract.
According to Sportsnet’s Rick Dhaliwal, this deal might include a no-trade claude but the Canucks could still opt to leave him exposed in the expansion draft.
“Alex is important to our team and has played as the cornerstone of our defence throughout his career,” Canucks general manager Jim Benning said in a release. “He’s a leader with tremendous experience, plays important minutes and contributes to every part of our team game. We’re very pleased for Alex and his family that he’ll continue his career as a Vancouver Canuck.”
Edler had 10 goals and 34 points in just 56 games with Vancouver last season. Although he’s always been effective, he’s missed at least eight games in each of the last six seasons. He hasn’t suited up in all 82 games since the 2011-12 season. But it’s easy to see why Benning wanted to keep him in the fold.
Besides the fact that he’s still a good player, he’s also one of the key veterans on a team that features many young players like Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat and others. Having that veteran presence around the ice and in the locker room can only help the Canucks going forward.
You know who must be thrilled about this news? Jake Gardiner. The Maple Leafs defenseman is set to become a free agent on July 1st, and with Erik Karlsson and Edler off the board any team looking for a puck-moving defenseman will have to open up the vault for Gardiner’s services. Sure, Gardiner was going to get paid no matter what, but the fact that there’s one less defender on the market won’t hurt his case.
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Joey Alfieri is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @joeyalfieri.