One pending free agent the Red Wings can steal from their Atlantic Division rivals
Joel Edmundson, Defenseman/Toronto Maple Leafs
There is nothing fancy regarding Joel Edmundson, and while he’s never going to score points from the blue line, it’s been established plenty of times already that the Red Wings won’t need high-end scorers. They do need to add more experienced defenseman, and Joel Edmundson would make an excellent consolation prize as far as the Atlantic Division goes among players at his position listed in this article.
Since his trade to the Toronto Maple Leafs last month, Edmundson has kept up his physical play, with 14 hits and 11 blocks. Overall, he’s finished 73 checks on the year and gotten in front of 60 pucks while logging third-pairing minutes.
This is the kind of player the Red Wings would sign and, should they attain enough depth defensively, place as their seventh man and let him rotate in when they need someone to consistently provide a physical presence.
Edmundson’s Corsi For reflects his strictly stay-at-home style of play, as it sits at just 47.3 on the year. But he may be a little more effective than meets the eye offensively, as his time in Toronto has indicated. Though it’s just a seven-game sample size, Edmundson does have a 45.1 Corsi For despite just seeing just 35 percent of all his starts in the offensive zone.
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(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference)