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Alex Edler - What are we seeing? (read before posting)


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Edler has been not playing anywhere near his potential. His shot from the point is still fearsome. An injured player can't shoot that well.

In his own zone? Almost non-existent.

The defence is the biggest issue with this team. The present defence corps aren't going to cut it in the playoffs and Edler is a major reason. We all know how physical other teams like to play us. That means all our players have to give it back. Edler and Hamhuis are way off their game and aren't giving a strong net presence at all. Edler usually ends up screening whomever's in net, and Hamhuis has been caught doing an uncharacteristic imitation of a pylon.

If Edler is playing injured that would be a travesty and would bring into question the organization, but I think Edler is lazy. He has shown the potential in previous years but now can barely muster one good performance every three games.

I don't have a bone to pick with Edler at all. I was against his suspension.

He is the most glaringly unperforming player on the team at this point. His miscues and gaffes have guaranteed him a -3 statiscally. He is on the ice for a lot of goals against. Five goals in 34 games?

I don't know of a single team that went deep in the playoffs with their best defenceman not playing strong defence. I'd like to think we could go far, but not leaning on a goaltender to stand on his head for a full 60 minutes.

The options change once Edler's NTC begins in July.

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Joe Schmo and Keslerbeast have it.Sami allowed and provided Edler the confidence and room or ability to play at another, higher level.

Sami was his mentor and Gillis,in his infinite wisdom, decided he was not worth another year.

Saying you will `think outside the box`and then not understanding players and relationships of men that support one another is quite another larger issue of managing your assets.

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My opinion is his value in a trade probably out weighs his value on this team. His game over the last couple years has been on the decline and why not float his name out there and see what you get in return, I think at this point you may get a GM to overpay. There is no doubt he has great skill I just don't think you will ever see it consistently enough to justify his salary.

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There was an interview with Edler before the start of this season. He was asked about his off-season back surgery and how he felt about his ability to play this season. He was candid about his back saying that he thinks it's only 90% of what it was before the injury. He came across in the interview that he felt that his back may never get back to 100% normal.

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There was an interview with Edler before the start of this season. He was asked about his off-season back surgery and how he felt about his ability to play this season. He was candid about his back saying that he thinks it's only 90% of what it was before the injury. He came across in the interview that he felt that his back may never get back to 100% normal.

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Joe Schmo and Keslerbeast have it.Sami allowed and provided Edler the confidence and room or ability to play at another, higher level.

Sami was his mentor and Gillis,in his infinite wisdom, decided he was not worth another year.

Saying you will `think outside the box`and then not understanding players and relationships of men that support one another is quite another larger issue of managing your assets.

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There was an interview with Edler before the start of this season. He was asked about his off-season back surgery and how he felt about his ability to play this season. He was candid about his back saying that he thinks it's only 90% of what it was before the injury. He came across in the interview that he felt that his back may never get back to 100% normal.

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I don't think he's used to being the main guy. As others have mentioned before, when we had salo or ehrhoff all the focus was on his partner and he was allowed to just play his game. He's now being called on being the go to guy, which is deserving with his contract extension. He's over thinking and making bad plays game in and game out that cost us.

Look at last night on the first goal. Instead of shooting the puck into the corner which would be the safe play, he backhands it right into the slot on desjardins stick and guess what is costs us the first goal. Didn't need to happen. He's just not thinking and trying to do to much. He's been our biggest defensive liability this year.

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What you're seeing is reality. Edler has terrible lateral movement. He has no speed in any direction, definitely one of the slowest defenders in the league, and he constantly gets beat on the outside.

In addition to that he has to be one of the least intelligent players around. When you watch him he has no clue. As others mentioned he no hand eye coordination to keep the puck in at the line (his play there is horrendous). He also has no idea when to attempt this and when to let the opposing forward just blow by him for a breakaway or two on one. The way I see him play defence is that he in constant terror when the other team has the puck. His best move is to skate backwards, put his body in the general oppositon path and hope his big body makes them play it somewhere else. If someone challenges him one of one it is up to another Canuck to bail him out. God forbid the team starts to get out of postion a bit, if this happens when Edler is on the ice you can't rely on him to make any decisions on the fly or as part of a cohesive unit. Soon after that odd man situations are created, Edler is out of postion, and the puck is in the back of the net.

He should be traded to the Flyers or Detroit immediately for Couturier or Helm if possible.

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agree with the injury cause.

he certainly isn't the player we used to see, but he is still young.

the year after a major surgery a player will NOT play normally, even though they are "recovered". Seen it so many times, it is almost 100%.

Players who are going to play like themselves this year, you could have marked them down before the puck dropped: Kesler and Edler. I expect them to be better next year, after another summer off. Confidence returns, the injuries actually heal fully. They will not be difference makers this year (at least on our side of the puck ;)

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He has no awareness of where the puck is when its within 3 feet of him. Once the puck reaches between the blade of his stick and his body, he's hopeless.

I dont know whether he is unable to look down, or just has really really bad spatial awareness, but its annoying.

Also, he stops behind the net completely killing our momentum WAY too often. He skates out really slow, I think he's trying to "slow down the play" but really he's just holding the puck too long and by the time he passes everyone's at the line and has no momentum left.

The plus side is he has a great shot, and has accurate passes when he decides to finally get them off.

If he could get the puck on his stick and off his stick faster, he would be much better.

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Mobility and sharpness/strength of his passes (resulting in turn-overs).

Both these suggest to me back or rib injury. He is starting to look far better lately, though, which would also support recovering from something.

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