Joel Edmundson is the new defenseman on the block

We’re almost done previewing the Washington Capitals defensemen. Just got one more left to preview and last but simply not least we are going to look at the new guy Joel Edmundson. We have a few forwards left and we’ll tackle one or more of those tomorrow.

Edmundson was acquired by the Caps in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens when free agency began on July 1. The Caps sent in exchange a third and seventh rounder in next year’s NHL Draft.

If you read my other article about Trevor van Riemsdyk, I ended it with an interesting nugget in the form of a bold prediction. I said the battle this upcoming camp would be for the third pairing and it’ll come down to Edmundson and Alex Alexeyev, who was re upped for two years.

With the Habs last season, Edmundson recorded 13 points with two goals and 11 assists in 61 games. In the deal, the Canadiens agreed to retain 50 percent of Edmundson’s salary. Washington would only have $1.75 million counted against them in the salary cap for Edmundson’s services.

This is a fresh start for the defenseman who has had injury plagued years the last couple of seasons. Brian MacLellan talked about the deal a few days after it happened:

“When we were going through the free-agent market and the trade market, he’s an element that we wanted to add to our lineup. Physical. Net front presence. Good leader. Has some good size. We looked at the free-agent market — and what the cost was — and decided to spend (picks) on it. Plus, the salary retention was appealing to us, too, because we could afford that.”

Edmundson could be a player that could thrive on that third pairing. Or he could be a fill in like Matt Irwin. The choice is up to him.