The Vancouver Canucks have announced that they’ll signal defenseman Alexander Edler to a one-day contract on Oct. 11, permitting him to retire within the metropolis he spent 15 seasons in. Edler is a veteran of 1,030 NHL video games, spending all however 105 of these in a Canucks jersey.
Edler holds a case because the draft day steal of 2004, initially going within the third spherical however since totaling the seventh-most NHL video games of anybody within the class. He earned a top-pair position in Vancouver as a rookie in 2007, instantly flashing dependable two-way play and modest scoring. He’d turn into identified for his consistency, rising as one in all Vancouver’s most utilized defenders by way of the majority of the Sedin period and routinely difficult the 35-point mark. Edler’s profession yr got here within the 2011-12 season, when he tallied 11 objectives, 38 assists and 49 factors in 82 video games — career-highs in all 4 stats and the one time that he performed in a full season. His 409 factors in 925 video games with Vancouver each rank as all-time highs amongst Canucks defenders.
Edler continued taking part in over 20 minutes an evening by way of his closing season in Vancouver in 2021. However the addition of celebrity Quinn Hughes challenged Edler’s position, main him to signal with the Los Angeles Kings, the place he’d shut his profession on a pair of one-year contracts. His scoring took a success in his closing years — falling from a per-game common of 0.44 factors in Vancouver (409 factors in 925 video games) to only 0.29 in Los Angeles (30 factors in 105 video games). He was one in all only some 2004 draft picks nonetheless taking part in within the NHL final season, becoming a member of Alex Ovechkin, Evgeni Malkin, Blake Wheeler and Alex Goligoski.
The Canucks will honor their longtime top-defender with a pregame ceremony throughout their Oct. 11 matchup towards the Philadelphia Flyers.
