I have been beating this drum for two years and I am taking my victory lap. Edvinsson finished with 25 points in 72 games but the counting stats are not even the story. He turned into one of the better defensive seasons from a young blueliner in the entire league. Heavy, long, defends the rush, kills plays before they start. The Norris ceiling I always talked about is now a Norris floor in my book. We have a real number two D growing next to Seider and people are sleeping on it.
Earned it. The thing that impressed me most was the gap control and how rarely he got beat wide. The reach lets him play tight without committing early. That is a hard skill to teach and he just has it now. The breakouts got noticeably cleaner too.
A Seider and Edvinsson top pairing for the next decade is the kind of thing this fanbase has not had in a long time. Two big right and left handed shutdown guys who can also move the puck. Sign me up.
I will mod-hat this for a second only to say ES has been right about him and deserves the credit. The defensive impact this year was real, not a vibe. The blue line is the strength of this rebuild and these two are why.
finally a big kid who actually defends instead of doing pirouettes at the blue line. id take a shift behind him.