After the flurry of deals that went down on Wednesday, the action picked right back up on Thursday morning. The Toronto Maple Leafs added defenseman Joel Edmundson via trade from the Washington Capitals to bolster their blueline ahead of Friday’s 2:00 pm CT trade deadline.
The Return for Joel Edmundson
The return for Edmundson is the Islanders’ third-round pick this season and the Blackhawks’ fifth-round pick in 2025. The Leafs acquired the fifth-round picks from the Blackhawks prior to last season’s trade deadline in the deal that sent Jake McCabe and Sam Lafferty to Toronto.
50% of Edmundson’s cap hit will be retained by the Capitals. He was also traded prior to last year’s deadline from Montreal to Washington. In that deal, Montreal retained 50% of his $3.5 million cap hit. So that means Washington will retain 50% of a $1.75 million cap hit ($875,000) and Toronto will be on the hook for an . The 30-year-old defenseman will be an unrestricted free agent on July 1st.
Joel Edmundson is the second defenseman the Maple Leafs have added in the last few days. Last week, Toronto traded for Ilya Lyubushkin from the Ducks. Clearly, as most contending teams do this ꦓtime of year, the Leafs are trying to load u♓p on defensive depth for the playoffs.
