Edmundson traded to Capitals by Canadiens

Joel Edmundson was traded to the Washington Capitals by the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

Montreal received a third-and-seventh-round pick in the 2024 NHL Draft.

Edmundson has one season remaining on a four-year contract he signed with the Canadiens on Sept. 16, 2020, and can become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2023-24 season. Montreal will retain 50 percent of the contract.

"I'm very excited," Edmundson said Wednesday. "This summer, I kind of had a feeling that something might go down just the way Montreal, the team was forming. They want to go young. They want to build something this year. Obviously, the draft passed. I thought something might have happened there. Then, I got the news early July 1 that I'm coming to Washington and me and my fiancée are very excited to get down there and get things going."

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The 30-year-old defenseman had 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) in 61 games last season. Though hampered by a back injury the past two seasons, Edmundson played Montreal's final 22 games and finished with 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) in 61 games. He was limited to 24 games in 2021-22 and had six points (three goals, three assists).

"I'm feeling good," he said. "I've been in the gym for about two months now, I've started to skate and the body is feeling really good. I just want to have a full, healthy summer of training and come into camp strong. The last two seasons, I got injured right before camp, so I think that just put me behind the eight ball right away and got my season off to a slow start where everyone was already buzzing, so I'm just looking forward to a healthy start to the season and help the team win."

Selected by the St. Louis Blues in the second round (No. 46) of the 2011 NHL Draft, Edmundson has 104 points (28 goals, 76 assists) in 477 regular-season games for the Canadiens, Carolina Hurricanes and Blues, and 21 points (six goals, 15 assists) in 75 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He won the Stanley Cup with St. Louis in 2019.

The Capitals (35-37-10) failed to qualify for the playoffs last season for first time since 2013-14. Spencer Carbery was hired as coach on May 30 to replace Peter Laviolette, who agreed to mutually part ways with the team on April 14 after three seasons.

"Yeah, for sure," he said. "Even just talking to the guys over the past couple of days on the team, I think this long summer is going to benefit the team in the long run. It gets everyone healthy, and everyone is eager to win again. Speaking to (former Blues teammate T.J.) Oshie the day I got traded, he was like, 'You're coming into a good situation. We're going to be healthy and we're hungry.' That got me excited, so I think we're going to surprise a lot of teams this year. Obviously, we've got some good leaders in the dressing room and the young guys they can play, too, so I think it's a good combination."

NHL.com staff writer Tom Gulitti contributed to this report