Edmundson has missed the last eight games after blocking a shot against the Carolina Hurricanes on Mar. 24.
Edmundson has missed the last eight games after blocking a shot against the Carolina Hurricanes on Mar. 24.
When the Maple Leafs take the ice on Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils, Joel Edmundson will be back in the lineup for Toronto.
After being acquired by the Maple Leafs on Mar. 7 from the Washington Capitals, the 30-year-old appeared in seven games before going down with an injury that's kept him out of the lineup since Mar. 24.
"Just a blocked shot," Edmundson said of how he suffered the injury. "Feeling 100% now."
Edmundson had averaged 17:44 of ice time in the seven games he appeared in before going down with an injury. The defenseman said that although it was difficult being out, seeing other defenders stepping in was nice.
"Yeah, it's definitely frustrating. But we have so many solid defensemen that can jump in and they've been playing solid, so it definitely makes it a little easier," Edmundson said.
"But it's never fun watching hockey. If it was playoffs, I would've played through it. It wasn't that big of an injury. We just wanted to make sure it was 100% before getting back."
Edmundson is being reinserted back into the Maple Leafs lineup with four regular season games remaining. He and Ilya Lyubushkin will come in for Jake McCabe — who Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said was taking a maintenance day — and Conor Timmins.
"[McCabe's] played a lot and done a lot for us this season. Quite honestly, I don't know that he's played many games at 100%," Keefe said on Thursday morning. "He's played through a lot of stuff this season. Nothing that's obviously held him back from playing, but he's played through a lot."
For Edmundson, this will be an important time for the defenseman to get going before the most important time of the hockey calendar begins.
"It's huge [to get back into the lineup]. We're playing some teams that are out of the playoffs, but we just gotta focus on our game and make sure we're preparing well and go into the playoffs flying. You want to have that confidence ready for your first [playoff] game."
Edmundson got plenty of time to watch the Maple Leafs from above while out with the injury. With that being said, what was the biggest thing he noticed about his still new-ish team?
"Everyone talks about how offensive this team is, but defensively, even the young forwards who are inexperienced, they're coming back into the zone and they're playing solid defense," said Edmundson.
"And the top guys, they're heavy on their sticks and it's a hard team to play against in the D-zone, so that's been fun to watch."
[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nq3fTYC5wvk[/embed]
One of Toronto's top guys, Auston Matthews, is on a historic quest for 70 goals. If he reaches that feat, he'll be the first player to that mark since Alexander Mogilny (76 goals) and Teemu Selanne (76 goals) did so in 1992-93.
For Edmundson, he's delighted to be playing alongside Matthews instead of against him.
"I'm just happy I'm on this side now. Over the years, you just see him taking those steps every year, and every year, he's harder to beat in the battles in the corners. He's heavy on his stick. Obviously, everybody knows his offensive ability, but he's a full 200-foot player. It's pretty cool to watch."
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