Player Discussion Alexander Edler. 8:08 of PP TOI in the Final 36 Games of 2019-20. One Year Remaining at $6 M.

[CambieKev]

It seems the last Edler thread has reached 1,000 posts.

He has one year remaining on his current contract. 2019-20 saw a significant shift in his usage with the additions of Quinn Hughes and Tyler Myers.

I've cut some footage from one of his playoff performances this year.

Game 5 vs VGK (Sep. 1, 2020):

Part 1:



Part 2:



I wrote a little bit about Edler's playoff performance for CA as well.

Article: Alex Edler’s defensive work at even strength in the playoffs was crucial, but his special teams play suffered - Sep. 20, 2020

Click to read more...

 

[RussianRacket]

Yeah I'm about done with watching him on the PP lulz. But still, depending on health and no sudden drop in ability I would like to see them sign him for a 2 year $3-4 millionish per season contract. But I also understand if he wants to chase the money and go for one last big contract (though I am not sure teams would be lining up for that)

 

[Hodgy]

This team really has no plan to replace Edler’s defensive minutes, and this is assuming Tanev is re-signed. And even where Tanev is re-signed, his days of handling the toughest matchups must be numbered. In any event, we need two top four even strength shutdown defensemen within the next two years (maybe even next year depending on Edler’s play and whether Tanev is re-signed) and we literally have no one in the system reasonably close to taking on these minutes. From an management/planning perspective, it’s just absolutely atrocious that there are no younger players ready to even try to take in these minutes after like five dumpster fire years.

 

[bandwagonesque]

This team really has no plan to replace Edler’s defensive minutes, and this is assuming Tanev is re-signed. And even where Tanev is re-signed, his days of handling the toughest matchups must be numbered. In any event, we need two top four even strength shutdown defensemen within the next two years (maybe even next year depending on Edler’s play and whether Tanev is re-signed) and we literally have no one in the system reasonably close to taking on these minutes. From an management/planning perspective, it’s just absolutely atrocious that there are no younger players ready to even try to take in these minutes after like five dumpster fire years.

On one hand, that might be a problem. On the other, Edler and Tanev were originally a 3rd round pick and an undrafted free agent and weren't part of anyone's succession plan themselves. You can't look at any group of prospects and make definite pronouncements about whether or not it contains a player that will fill a certain role. I don't mind the depth of the D prospects at all, although there are none that look like they're guaranteed to be difference makers.

 

[LuLover96]

I assume that the plan is still to let Rathbone or Juolevi replace his minutes over time. Edler’s age is showing, but he’s still a dependable player.

 

[Hit the post]

The same Myers that couldn’t output Gaunce in the postseason?

 

[WetcoastOrca]

I can’t believe we still don’t have a replacement for Edler after all of these years. Lots of posts about what he’s not great at ( the PP for example) but man are we ever going to miss this guy when he’s gone. A jack of all trades who has been the glue holding together this defense for years now. He’s the equivalent of duct tape for the Canucks.

 

[sandwichbird2023]

I assume that the plan is still to let Rathbone or Juolevi replace his minutes over time. Edler’s age is showing, but he’s still a dependable player.

Oh lord, the idea of Joulevi, or yet-to-play-pro Rathbone replacing Edlers minutes are frightening. Can you imagine them going up against the likes of McDavid and MacKinnon game after game, being on the top PK unit, out there defending a 1 goal lead late in the 3rd, etc? You can say that is years down the road but neither player project to be the shutdown type.

 

[LuLover96]

Oh lord, the idea of Joulevi, or yet-to-play-pro Rathbone replacing Edlers minutes are frightening. Can you imagine them going up against the likes of McDavid and MacKinnon game after game, being on the top PK unit, out there defending a 1 goal lead late in the 3rd, etc? You can say that is years down the road but neither player project to be the shutdown type.

Agreed, but Juolevi is the closest thing we’ve ever drafted to an edler comparable. That’s where a guy like Breezer or Woo would be useful too though, both are really good in their own zone.

 

[VanJack]

This upcoming year is probably the last hurrah for Edler in a Canucks uniform. They'll need his cap space to sign Pettersson and Hughes. But he's been a warrior for the Canucks, and will likely go down in history as one of the best d-man they've ever drafted.

 

[F A N]

I can’t believe we still don’t have a replacement for Edler after all of these years. Lots of posts about what he’s not great at ( the PP for example) but man are we ever going to miss this guy when he’s gone. A jack of all trades who has been the glue holding together this defense for years now. He’s the equivalent of duct tape for the Canucks.

What does "replacement for Edler" even mean? If you're talking about first pairing left side Dman we have Quinn Hughes. If you're talking about 1st unit PP and best offensive Dman, again we have Quinn Hughes.

Funny thing is that of all the recent Canucks first pairing Dmen, Edler is perhaps the biggest underachiever. I called him the closest thing the Canucks had to a #1 Dman for years but he never really reached the level. If anything, our appreciation of Edler kind of grown over the years.

Edler deserves our appreciation. He's a 1st pairing Dman at his best and life long Canuck. It's too bad that his true 1st pairing days coincided with the Canucks being a bad team. His talent level and longevity certainly places him in the ring of honour (much like Ohlund, he's going to retire holding most of Canucks' Dmen records).

I think it's worth repeating, statistically, Edler has a strong case for being the best Canucks Dman ever. When the time comes that he has played his last game as a Canuck, he should be celebrated.

 

[HockeyWooot]

Edler while never having been a true #1D, has still been the top defender on this organization for many years. An absolute workhorse even in his later years.

I think they had planned for Juolevi to be his replacement when they drafted him.

The lack of draft pick accumulation for a rebuilding team is astonishing. We should have drafted a decent if not unflashy dman by now that can eat up minutes to reduce his workload.

I think Edler could be an effective Dman for a few more years, in a reduced capacity.

 

[BB06]

Agreed, but Juolevi is the closest thing we’ve ever drafted to an edler comparable. That’s where a guy like Breezer or Woo would be useful too though, both are really good in their own zone.

Who is Breezer?

 

[LuLover96]

Who is Breezer?

Guillaume Brisebois was drafted 66th overall in 2015. He’s a shut down defence man and isn’t flashy.

Jett Woo and Toni Utunen could also end up being Tanev replacements too. The latter plays almost identical to Tanev, just a bit smaller.

 

[Fatass]

Edler while never having been a true #1D, has still been the top defender on this organization for many years. An absolute workhorse even in his later years.

I think they had planned for Juolevi to be his replacement when they drafted him.

The lack of draft pick accumulation for a rebuilding team is astonishing. We should have drafted a decent if not unflashy dman by now that can eat up minutes to reduce his workload.

I think Edler could be an effective Dman for a few more years, in a reduced capacity.

Missing on the OJ pick (should have drafted Sergachev) has forced Edler to play too many really hard minutes.

 

[lawrence]

its unfortunate we might not see a 82 game season, I assume the plan was to have Juolevi play with the team, and he can absorb everything he can under the guidance of Edler, Tanev and Myers. Hopefully him watching Miro Heiskanen can also give him some motivation. When Edler goes out, Hughes will be our new number 1, Juolevi will slot in, obviously not taking on Edlers role, but he naturally will fill in for Edler, as it should and hopefully can be a top 4 for us, fingers crossed However Edler can still sign with us, just at a massively reduced contract, and not close to 6 million and maybe a 1 or 2 year contract. 2 million tops, absolute tops.

 

[Hodgy]

On one hand, that might be a problem. On the other, Edler and Tanev were originally a 3rd round pick and an undrafted free agent and weren't part of anyone's succession plan themselves. You can't look at any group of prospects and make definite pronouncements about whether or not it contains a player that will fill a certain role. I don't mind the depth of the D prospects at all, although there are none that look like they're guaranteed to be difference makers.

I have a couple issues with your post. First, when you are bad for a five year period - like, literally one of the worst teams in the NHL - you should have a plan in place that isn’t overly dependent on lucking out on college free agents and mid round picks. Second, while no one can definitively state anything almost ever about prospects, you can also project prospects and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that no Canucks prospects look to be able to fill Tanev or Edler’s minutes. Frankly, this isn’t really a contentious proposition and Edler and Tanev are good examples. Edler was a gem, and there are stories of Gradin picking him before the DRWs could, and his development curve was excellent. If we had drafted a player like Edler a draft or two ago I think he would be noted in the discussion right now. Tanev had a similar steep development curve and was very quickly looking like an NHL prospect. It does not look like the Canucks have either type of prospect right now, and while they could draft or sign one soon, it is still looking like those type of players would be 2-4 years away (perhaps a bit earlier with a college free agent homerun), which may be too late.

All that said, I don’t disagree with your point that players can unpredictably fill spots, but given the context, I don’t think this is much of a defence of management who quite clearly struggle to identify quality defensemen.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

I have a couple issues with your post. First, when you are bad for a five year period - like, literally one of the worst teams in the NHL - you should have a plan in place that isn’t overly dependent on lucking out on college free agents and mid round picks. Second, while no one can definitively state anything almost ever about prospects, you can also project prospects and it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say that no Canucks prospects look to be able to fill Tanev or Edler’s minutes. Frankly, this isn’t really a contentious proposition and Edler and Tanev are good examples. Edler was a gem, and there are stories of Gradin picking him before the DRWs could, and his development curve was excellent. If we had drafted a player like Edler a draft or two ago I think he would be noted in the discussion right now. Tanev had a similar steep development curve and was very quickly looking like an NHL prospect. It does not look like the Canucks have either type of prospect right now, and while they could draft or sign one soon, it is still looking like those type of players would be 2-4 years away (perhaps a bit earlier with a college free agent homerun), which may be too late.

All that said, I don’t disagree with your point that players can unpredictably fill spots, but given the context, I don’t think this is much of a defence of management who quite clearly struggle to identify quality defensemen.

We were bad for a four year period...

Picking a top 4 D-man isn't something that you can always plan on, ..and even if you draft one at the top of the draft, there's still no guarantee (Juolevi,Barker, Reinhart )..How many years did it take Edler and Tanev to become top 4 D men..?..and did anybody even predict them to be so?

Lets see how Rafferty,Juolevi, Rathbone and Woo pan out before we go into crisis mode...It certainly would have helped the organization if we had drafted a top 4 D man sometime in the 13 year span of 2005-2013...?

 

[JAK]

I would love to see Edler make it to the 1000 game mark as a Canuck, I want to see Edler on the Ring of Honor beside Gradin, the man who got him to Vancouver.

 

[Canucks1096]

I would love to see Edler make it to the 1000 game mark as a Canuck, I want to see Edler on the Ring of Honor beside Gradin, the man who got him to Vancouver.

Nonis played a big part as well. Canucks didn't have a 3rd round pick in 2004, it was traded for Sanderson, Nonis traded a 2005 3rd round pick for a 2004 3rd round pick to draft Edler.

 

[F A N]

This team really has no plan to replace Edler’s defensive minutes, and this is assuming Tanev is re-signed. And even where Tanev is re-signed, his days of handling the toughest matchups must be numbered. In any event, we need two top four even strength shutdown defensemen within the next two years (maybe even next year depending on Edler’s play and whether Tanev is re-signed) and we literally have no one in the system reasonably close to taking on these minutes. From an management/planning perspective, it’s just absolutely atrocious that there are no younger players ready to even try to take in these minutes after like five dumpster fire years.

There's a difference between having a plan and the plan panning out. Sometimes the plan fails - like drafting Juolevi who was regarded as the best all-around Dman in the draft at the time.

What separates the elite teams from the rest is that elite teams successfully add players unexpectedly. You think Gillis planned on adding a Dman that Ehrhoff was for us without giving up a significant asset? That's just unrealistic.

The draft and develop model relies and draft picks developing into the type of NHL players they were projected to be. It includes drafting players like Petey and Hughes who step in and star right away. Teams don't draft someone in the 3rd round planning for the player to develop into a first line player or top pairing Dman but good teams are good because they find top 6 forwards and top 4 Dmen in the later rounds.

 

[PuckMunchkin]

Agreed, but Juolevi is the closest thing we’ve ever drafted to an edler comparable. That’s where a guy like Breezer or Woo would be useful too though, both are really good in their own zone.

Compared to whom..?

 

[ChilliBilly]

We were bad for a four year period...

Picking a top 4 D-man isn't something that you can always plan on, ..and even if you draft one at the top of the draft, there's still no guarantee (Juolevi,Barker, Reinhart )..How many years did it take Edler and Tanev to become top 4 D men..?..and did anybody even predict them to be so?

Lets see how Rafferty,Juolevi, Rathbone and Woo pan out before we go into crisis mode...It certainly would have helped the organization if we had drafted a top 4 D man sometime in the 13 year span of 2005-2013...?

We have 1 more year of Edler. I can't see JB being dumb enough to give tanev the payoff he will be asking for. (yes I said it, JB won't be dumb). This is Tanev's last chance at a payoff, one can assume he is planning on getting paid.

Edit - and our best shot is signing Tryamkin. Big physical D man. He should be here for the 21 - 22 season.

 

[Hit the post]

Picking a top 4 D-man isn't something that you can always plan on

You sure can't rely on this management team to sign one via free agency and/or trade. Myers is a meh #4, and even then, Jimbo had to offer him $6 million on a long-term contract with some form of trade protection. That's one in what? Six years? Even Nonis was better than that.

Lets see how Rafferty,Juolevi, Rathbone and Woo pan out before we go into crisis mode...It certainly would have helped the organization if we had drafted a top 4 D man sometime in the 13 year span of 2005-2013...?

He was undrafted. If you're going to pump Jimbo's tires at least include the one undrafted Gilligan prospect Tanev. Oh but that would contradict your following statement about 'if we had drafted a top $ dman sometime in the 13 year span of 2005-2013. A guy that is STILL arguably the #2 guy on this team TODAY.

 

[Pastor Of Muppetz]

You sure can't rely on this management team to sign one via free agency and/or trade. Myers is a meh #4, and even then, Jimbo had to offer him $6 million on a long-term contract with some form of trade protection. That's one in what? Six years? Even Nonis was better than that.




He was undrafted. If you're going to pump Jimbo's tires at least include the one undrafted Gilligan prospect Tanev. Oh but that would contradict your following statement about 'if we had drafted a top $ dman sometime in the 13 year span of 2005-2013. A guy that is STILL arguably the #2 guy on this team TODAY.

"He skates and moves the puck well, possesses a physical element the team sometimes lacks and, despite his defensive deficiencies, Myers still led Vancouver in even-strength ice time (18:35) – slightly ahead of Edler and Hughes."

Name me another under 30 RHD top 4 D (with no ED protection) who signed for less in the last few years?

Nobody saw Tanev becoming a top 4, least of all Gilligan (and what about all the junk D men he acquired ?)..Benning also developed Stecher (undrafted).

.Again, the intent was there to draft a top 4 D in 2016 (Juolevi was going to be the first D man taken in that draft)..Good thing Jimbo hit it out of the park two years later..drafting a franchise D..The first top 4 d man drafted in 16 years by this franchise.