A day after the rest of the league's top contenders were bringing in big name players, the Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving responded Thursday by acquiring veteran defenseman Joel Edmundson from the Washington Capitals.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will be sending out the 2024 3rd Round pick they acquired from the New York Islanders last trade deadline for Pierre Engvall and the Chicago 2025 5th Round Pick they acquired along with Jake McCabe last season.
The 30-year old Edmundson is a veteran of 521 career NHL games after playing in St. Louis, Carolina, Montreal and Washington.
Here is hoping this isn't it for the Leafs additions this year.
Toronto Maple Leafs Trade for Joel Edmundson
Edmundson was acquired last summer by the Capitals from Montreal for a third round and seventh round pick; so Washington GM Brian MacLellan was essentially able to move up from the seventh round to the fifth round in the deal.
Edmundson had previously averaged over 20-minutes a night twice over his career, but in Washington this season he was averaging the lowest ice-time of his career since his rookie year at just 16:26 a night.
— Edna Garrett (@WatchMyReview) March 7, 2024
Many fans will likely be upset with the deal as Edmundson appears to be exactly what the Toronto Maple Leafs have an abundance of and that is bottom pairing/seventh defenseman that doesn't move the puck particularly well.
The Brandon, Manitoba native has been a negative Corsi player over his career and that trend continues this season. Not only that, but this now 4 x draft picks on waiver-wire quality players in the last week.