The Blues' emerging shutdown horse is probably worth more than he got, but he helps his team – and his future – by delaying his big extension until next summer.
Joel Edmundson came of age in 2017-18. Maturing into a bigger role than ever on the St. Louis Blues’ defense corps, he upped his average time on ice by almost three minutes year over year. Among players with 20 or more games, he finished 13th in blocked shots per game. He rated above average relative to other D-men who played at least 1,000 minutes 5-on-5 in shot attempts generated and allowed per 60 minutes and high-danger chances allowed per 60 minutes. He shot the puck more, too, and scored a career-best seven goals, more than he’d ever tallied in an AHL season, let alone an NHL one.
So Edmundson, 25 and an RFA, had clearly earned a nice raise over the $1.05-million cap hit on his expiring two-year contract. The Blues, one of the off-season’s busiest teams, had almost spent to the cap, leaving only about $4 million. Edmundson had arguably earned a long-term extension with his play, too. So how did his camp and Blues GM Doug Armstrong solve the problem? With a one-year, $3-million pact, announced Tuesday. It’s an unselfish deal for Edmundson, allowing the Blues to stay under the cap after making so many roster upgrades, while it almost triples his salary, it avoids arbitration, and it sets him up to get a bigger, better extension a year from now.
The Blues may be more improved on paper than any team this off-season. They’ve added Ryan O’Reilly and Tyler Bozak at center. They’ve signed Patrick Maroon and David Perron for the wings. They get young left winger Robby Fabbri back after he missed more than a year with a torn ACL. They have some potential Calder Trophy candidates battling for roster spots at forward in Robert Thomas, Jordan Kyrou and Klim Kostin. They have an excellent chance to leapfrog the Minnesota Wild and challenge for a top-three spot in the Central Division this season. In Armstrong's mind, doing so required aggressive spending, with O’Reilly, Bozak, Maroon and Perron eating up a whopping $18.25 million in cap space.
In a sense, Edmundson has taken one for the team with that one-year deal. Similar shutdown-with-modest-offense players like Josh Manson and Brett Pesce, for instance, earned more lucrative long-term RFA deals last summer. But Edmundson was sneaky-wise to take the team-friendly, one-year deal because, as The Athletic’s Blues beat reporter Jeremy Rutherford points out, Edmundson can earn a much bigger cap hit on an extension for 2019-20 and beyond because the Blues will have much more cap space by then. On their D-corps alone, Jay Bouwmeester, Carl Gunnarsson and Robert Bortuzzo are off the books as UFAs next summer, clearing more than $9 million. With Vince Dunn establishing himself as a legit NHLer and fellow prospects Jordan Schmaltz and Jake Walman knocking on the door, there’s a good chance the Blues let that veteran UFA trio walk – especially Bouwmeester, who will be 36 when the 2019-20 season starts. So there will be more than enough money for Edmundson to get another raise, especially if he can duplicate his 2017-18 effort, which will depend a lot on whether he can stay healthy after losing 13 games to a broken forearm. That was a fluky injury, at least, not nearly as troubling as a knee or shoulder or head problem would be.
Edmundson is wise to bet on himself smack in the middle of his prime years. He’s eligible to sign his next extension as early as Jan. 1, 2019. Avoiding an arbitration ruling was also a good thing since the Blues would’ve had the power to choose a two-year term.
So it seems everybody involved in this mini-extension was thinking intelligently. It’s just one more reason why the Blues are among the off-season’s biggest winners.