Can the Montreal Canadiens make a trade for Simon Edvinsson?

On the eve of the Detroit Red Wings season and the christening of the 2026/27 NHL season, many teams have holes to fix and their own projects to worry about, yet the Red Wings have a significant issue seemingly sticking out like a sore thumb.

As the title leads you all to believe, 23 year old Simon Edvinsson, the former 6th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, is a restricted free agent who is yet to be signed prior to the start of the regular season for the Red Wings.

As reported, both Edvinsson’s camp and the Red Wings are not agreeing on terms for a contract, but accordingly with other contracts given out around the league and the rising salary cap, it is expected to be higher than 9 million dollars for a young top 4 defenseman.

Edvinsson has certainly given himself an argument for that type of money as well. At only 23 years old he has already cemented himself as one of the most important defensemen on the Red Wings, playing over 22 minutes a night last season whilst putting up 25 points in 72 games. At 6’6 he also brings something that is incredibly difficult to find in the NHL, being a massive defenseman who can move the puck and contribute offensively whilst still having plenty of room to develop.

In this case, Edvinsson has gone back to his pre draft team in Frölunda HC to train and was spotted training with them.

This of course leads to loads of speculation and scenarios in which Edvinsson could potentially leave Detroit.

Much like these other scenarios, there are a few options. The Montreal Canadiens could try and offer sheet Edvinsson for two first round picks, a second and a third, offer sheeting him somewhere between roughly 9.5 and 11.9 million dollars.

Although this seems decent in concept, and maybe even worth it to stabilize the Habs D core for a long time to come, the issue lies in the cap structure of the Red Wings, where they have enough flexibility to potentially sign both Alex DeBrincat and Simon Edvinsson, which could realistically happen.

Detroit also has almost no reason to simply let Edvinsson walk. He is 23, was drafted 6th overall, has already developed into a top 4 defenseman and fits perfectly into the age range of the Red Wings core. An offer sheet would therefore have to be large enough that Detroit seriously questions whether matching it is worth the money, which I think makes this option pretty unlikely.

The second option, in my opinion, which is much more likely would be a trade.

A trade would most likely have to be an overpay from the Habs.

Many fans feel as though something should happen soon, as failing to get Marchenko nor Knies and the team staying relatively similar, without even talking about the addition of Kreider in the already deep Atlantic Division, makes the Habs staying competitive a slippery slope.

Thus, my proposed trade for Simon Edvinsson would be: firstly Kaiden Guhle, the cap controlled left handed defensemen, Adam Engström, a B tier prospect in the Habs system, Oliver Kapanen and a first round pick.

Now obviously this is a lot to give up.

Guhle is already a  good NHL defenseman and would give Detroit an immediate replacement for Edvinsson rather than making this purely a futures based trade. Engström gives them another young defensemen to develop, Kapanen adds another young forward to their system and then you have the first round pick on top of all of that.

The reason I would even consider giving up that much is because Edvinsson isn’t simply a prospect anymore. He’s already playing significant minutes at 23 years old and has shown that he can be a legitimate top 4 defensemen in the NHL, with the potential to become even better as he enters his prime.

Reasonably, the Red Wings do not share the wealth of prospects that the Montreal Canadiens do, and if they are unable to make a deal work with Edvinsson, the Habs could use that prospect pool to their advantage and make Detroit an offer that would be difficult to ignore.

If Montreal were able to trade for the right to sign Edvinsson, I would then look at signing him to an 8 year contract worth around 10 million dollars per season to ensure that both parties are happy.

It is obviously a massive contract, but you’re paying for Edvinsson from age 23 through essentially the entirety of his prime. You’re also adding him to a Canadiens defensive core that already has Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson, which could give Montreal one of the most dangerous defensive groups in the NHL for years to come.

Is Guhle, Engström, Kapanen and a first round pick an overpay? Most likely.

But if Simon Edvinsson actually becomes available, I don’t think Montreal would be the only team calling.

And sometimes if you want a 23 year old defensemen of his calibre, you have to be willing to pay the price.

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