Alex Edler is the all-time scoring leader among Vancouver Canucks defencemen, and he’s being honoured by the team.
The Canucks announced today that Edler will sign a one-day contract to officially retire with the club. It’s the same way the Canucks honoured Kevin Bieksa two years ago, and it’ll be a special night when he is celebrated on October 11.
But does this also signal a snub for the Ring of Honour?
The Canucks don’t announce when a player doesn’t get in the Ring of Honour, but it would seem unlikely they’d give Edler two nights of celebration.
Edler was assumed by some to be a lock for the Ring of Honour, which is the team’s highest honour outside of jersey retirement. He played 925 of his 1,030 career NHL games with the Canucks, before suiting up for the Los Angeles Kings in 2021-22 and 2022-23.
The 38-year-old Swede holds many Canucks defenceman records, though Quinn Hughes seems destined to break them in the coming years.
Still, outside of Hughes, he’s unquestionably the most accomplished defenceman in the 54-year history of the team.
The Canucks’ Ring of Honour currently has eight members: Orland Kurtenbach, Kirk McLean, Thomas Gradin, Harold Snepsts, Pat Quinn, Mattias Ohlund, Alex Burrows, and Roberto Luongo.
It also has a confusing eligibility requirement, given it doesn’t just take into account on-ice accomplishments. Instead, it celebrates “Canucks heroes” that have “made a lasting impact on the franchise.”
Lots of room for interpretation there.
Edler had more points (409) as a Canuck than Ohlund (325) and more than double Snepsts (195). Like Ohlund, he was named an NHL All-Star on one occasion and represented Sweden at the Winter Olympics.
Edler wasn’t just a point producer, of course. He played big minutes year after year, often drawing the opposing team’s toughest matchups. He’s the all-time leader in hits (1,432) and blocked shots (1,762) by a wide margin since the NHL began recording those stats in 2005.
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