EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Alexander Edler doesn’t consider himself a superstitious person. But in the days leading up to Saturday’s matinee game between the Kings and Philadelphia Flyers, the unassuming Swede particularly wasn’t keen on having a group discussion over the meaning of it.
Playing in 1,000 NHL games is a big deal. But Edler has learned not to take any day for granted and so he’s taken to not thinking much about the milestone until he has finished another day of duty, as he’s done for 17 seasons.
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“I’d rather just play it and then talk about it,” he said. “But I get it. It’s all good.”
The reasoning for the reticence is injuries can happen any time, and he’s had his share. “I could get injured in warm-ups,” said Edler, a reference to when he was struck in the face by a puck while getting ready to play against Detroit in October. “I’m just trying to take a game at a time.”
But he understands why there would be interest in how he views reaching a status that 375 others in the history of the league have attained. The Kings’ blueliner will also be the 122nd defenseman to play in 1,000 contests. Narrow it further and he’ll be the sixth Swedish defender to get there, joining Nicklas Lidström, Börje Salming, Calle Johansson, Ulf Samuelsson and Fredrik Olausson.
It isn’t easy to get there. And when you were a top-pairing rearguard, as Edler was for many prime seasons in Vancouver, you’re a target who routinely must move pucks under pressure but run a power play to success, try to kill plays in your own end either at full strength or shorthanded and be a physical presence when it’s necessary.
“It’s very tough because there’s a lot of nights where you can’t hide,” said Kevin Bieksa, his Canucks teammate for nine seasons. “Especially 10 years ago when every single third- and fourth-line guy was finishing his checks on you. That’s all the coaches ever preached to the forwards was, finish your checks. Especially on the defensemen that were playing a lot of minutes. That’s Alex’s whole career. Playing a ton of minutes. Every team is being told to finish your checks on him. So, you’re taking a lot of abuse. You’re taking a lot of wear and tear. You’re blocking a lot of shots if you’re a defenseman that plays in every situation like Alex is.
“He’s had broken feet before from blocking shots like all of us. He’s had shoulder injuries. He’s had back surgeries. You have to be durable. But you also have to have a mental toughness and a perseverance that you’re not going to let a couple injuries derail you. Because the rehab and the recovery is so tedious and so monotonous and when you go through that for your fifth or sixth or seventh time, there’s a point where you’re just kind of like, ‘I don’t want to do this anymore.’ Alex has pushed through all that.”
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Edler has only been with Los Angeles for two seasons. The 36-year-old isn’t the player he once was, as he plays fewer minutes, mostly on the Kings’ third pairing, and he isn’t the kind of offensive threat that made him a highly effective two-way defender for those 15 years with the Canucks.
The Kings have seen him as valuable as anyone in their room from the moment they signed in the summer of 2021. “It’s immense,” coach Todd McLellan says of the veteran’s influence.
“If you track his entry into the league as an elevation to play a certain role and where he is now, he’s had to reinvent himself on the ice,” McLellan continued. “Off the ice, he’s been the same person for 1,000 games and however many years. Cares about people. Cares about the team. Is professional as they come.
“He reminds me a lot of Nick Lidstrom when we had him in Detroit. Gives everything he has but has accepted a role. It’s not about Alex Edler ever. And we couldn’t ask for a better example of a human being, a hockey player and a committed person to an organization than we have in Alex Edler. The minute he walks into the room, it’s professional. All the way through.”
The way McLellan sees it, there’s a long list of Kings who can absorb all that he described about Edler. That list starts with the young defensemen in the organization. Tobias Björnfot. Jordan Spence. Jacob Moverare. Sean Durzi, who’s in his second season, is doing that.
“He’s awesome,” Durzi said. “From my point in the NHL and from meeting all these older guys and veterans and all that, he’s at the top of the list of guys for me. Team-first. True professional. There’s not much more I can say about him just being a leader with what he does on and off the ice.
“You know, he’s a good guy to have around. He’s kind. He’s a funny guy around the room. He’ll give it to you when he thinks it’s funny and he’ll also have your back. Not enough good things I can say about him. He’s probably meant more to my career than he even knows. One thousand is a lot of games. I’m happy for him.”
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The first 925 of those games were with Vancouver, which made him a third-round pick in 2004 and the 91st player taken overall. A product of the Jämtlands and MODO programs, Edler first made the transition to hockey in North America when he played a season in the Western Hockey League with the Kelowna Rockets.
Bieksa remembers “this tall, gangly Swedish defenseman” who would make his breakout pass and not realize what kind of target he’d become for forechecking NHL forwards.
“He would just watch the puck and get blown up by guys like Chris Neil and Jordin Tootoo,” Bieksa said. “And then he quickly learned through a little bit of learning himself and then the guidance and mentorship of Mattias Öhlund. He kind of learned how to throw that reverse hit into guys when they were coming to hit him.”
Now Bieksa estimates he’s seen Edler deliver that kind of hit thousands of times, using his 6-foot-4 frame to create enough separation to consistently make plays under duress.
“I watched him play the other night in L.A. when they played against Calgary,” Bieksa said. “And it was the same thing. There was a guy coming in on the forecheck, it was (Adam) Ruzicka. He goes to hit Edler. Edler moves the puck, and the timing is awesome. He explodes into Ruzicka and puts him on his butt. I’ve seen that thousands of times over the years and that’s kind of one of his staples.”
Last season, Edler made his return to Vancouver and Canucks faithful recognized his contributions with a standing ovation, noting his legacy as the blueliner widely considered the best in franchise history. The moment might be a year old now, but it still hits his heart. The cosmopolitan city is his adopted home. It’s where he met his wife, Amanda, and where they’ve raised their daughters, Emme-Rose and River.
“It was definitely special,” Edler said. “Being there for so long and being welcomed and everything. I’ve been playing with so many great players. Had so many good coaches, staff, trainers, everything. The whole organization. Everything. They’ve just been very good to me. … There’s a lot of special moments from those years up there.”
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Once he began talking about his Vancouver days, Edler thought about the teammates he learned from and battled with for so long. When he first entered the league, it was Markus Naslund and Trevor Linden. And then it was the core he became part of. Daniel and Henrik Sedin. Ryan Kesler and Dan Hamhuis. Bieksa. Alex Burrows.
Edler particularly gravitated to Öhlund when he made his debut in 2006-07. Öhlund was a left-shooting defender who played in all situations for the Canucks and made an impact at both ends of the ice. Edler could readily identify with him.
“I think he kind of just took me under his wing right away,” Edler said. “It was great for me because he was a guy that I looked up to before meeting him. Watching him. I always wanted to be the kind of player that he was. The way he kind of played his game. How hard he played. How he never complained. He was just so consistent every game. And, you know, getting to know him, how he was off the ice too.
“I think he was perfect for me. That’s kind of how I wanted to be, both as a player and a person.”
Ultimately, Edler passed Öhlund on Vancouver’s all-time list for scoring among defensemen. He has more goals (99), assists (310) and points (409) in franchise history than any other rearguard and yet still views Öhlund as the standard. “If I’m ever compared to Mattias Öhlund, that’s an honor for me for sure,” he said.
Öhlund would move on to Tampa Bay and helped shepherd a young Victor Hedman before a knee injury ended his career prematurely. To Bieksa, Edler has that same quiet leadership that resonates beyond words.
“The best mentors and the best leaders are the ones that don’t even know that they’re doing it,” Bieksa said. “Just because they have such good habits and they do everything so well, you just want to follow them and be like them. And Alex is like that now for (Adrian) Kempe and some of the young defensemen. Mikey Anderson. Sean Walker. I’ve talked to him, and he says great things about Alex. Because he just does things the right way. He doesn’t complain and he works hard.
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“He’s a natural leader for all these young guys coming into the league.”
“Most of all, I try to lead by example,” Edler said, thinking of the impact he has left on others. “Just everything I learned from the older guys when I was young. I think it’s great. You can learn a lot just from seeing what they’re doing on and off the ice. That’s how I learned a lot, I think. I try to do the same. Any of the young guys have a question or anything, I’m always open to try to help them.”
Durzi isn’t shy and eagerly asks for any advice Edler can offer. He handles power-play duty, which Edler used to have in his Canucks days, and wants the veteran to chime in if he sees anything the opposition is doing tactically that he can adjust to or even exploit. “Because he’s done it and that’s a guy I trust to listen to,” Durzi said. “I’ll go out there the next shift and I’ll trust what he saw, and it’ll be there. It’s good to have him kind of breaking it down.”
The Canucks figure to put Edler in their Ring of Honour when his playing days are over. Bieksa, who officially retired in October and was honored by the team in a November ceremony, knows Edler won’t like being in the spotlight. Whenever that night occurs, the love sent his way will be warranted. “He’ll definitely deserve it, for sure,” Bieksa said.
But while he can remember the days when Edler sat quietly in the locker room and sipped coffee while he traded barbs with teammates, Bieksa wants the low-key defender to keep playing as long as he can. He’s been a player of value for the Kings and has stayed relevant by adjusting his preparation and taking more game-day morning skates to warm up a body that’s “getting a little bit old and beat up.”
His current club wants to return some of what he’s brought to them by making his milestone game memorable — by winning.
“Well, I sure the hell hope (today) that our guys play,” McLellan said. “Because Eddy gives to the game a lot more than he takes from it. And our group owes him a night. The coaching staff owes him a good night. The players owe him a good night. It’s our job to give him that night. He’ll give us his best, so we better give him ours.”
(Photo of Alex Edler: Ron Chenoy / USA Today)
