Kyle Garcia 
Photo credit: The Athletic
With training camp right around the corner, we are previewing each player on the LA Kings roster. Up next: Alexander Edler!
Alexander Edler
Biography
Birthdate: April 21, 1986
Birthplace: Ostersund, Sweden
Height: 6’3″
Weight: 215 lbs
Position: Defenseman
Shoots: Left
Drafted: 3rd round, 91st overall, 2004 NHL Entry Draft by Vancouver
2021-2022 Season
After spending the first 15 years of his career with the Vancouver Canucks, Edler signed a one-year deal with the LA Kings, coming into his 16th year in the NHL. I’m not going to lie to you, after all the division battles over the years and the two playoff matchups with the Canucks, it looked a little weird seeing Edler in a King uniform.
With the Kings not having many options on the left side and not much of a veteran presence on the backend, signing Edler to a one-year deal made sense. Edler brought size to a blue line that was lacking in that area. Playing some decent hockey, Edler ended up suffering a leg injury on December 12th that would sideline him for three months. Edler would return for the final month of the season and play in all seven playoff games, where he recorded two assists in the Kings’ seven-game defeat against the Oilers.
In 41 games, Edler recorded three goals, 16 assists, and 19 points while logging an average of 18 minutes of ice time. Before his injury, Edler would record his 100th career goal against the Calgary Flames in a 3-2 loss.
Alex Edler (1) scores his first goal as a King and 100th goal of career.
Assists:
Viktor Arvidsson (7)
Philip Danault (8)#GoKingsGo #Flames #LAKvsCGY pic.twitter.com/69RGFhQbiu— LA Royalty (@LARoyalty1967) December 3, 2021
2022-2023 Outlook
The Kings brought back Edler on a one-year, $750,000 deal. The deal also contains additional bonuses of $750,000 if a certain amount of games are played. I don’t expect Edler to put up insane offensive numbers at this point in his career, but his leadership and experience will be valuable to the blue line. He is just 34 games away from 1,000 career games, and barring any injury (knock on wood), he will get there. At age 36, it’ll be interesting to see if Edler will rotate in and out of the lineup, especially on back-to-backs, to stay fresh. We’ll have to see what the plan is.
(Main photo credit: Andy Devlin/Getty Images)