Two National Hockey League defensemen announced their retirement on Tuesday. According to Rogers Sportsnet, they were Chris Wideman of St. Louis, Missouri and Alexander Edler of Ostersund, Sweden.
Alexander Edler
Edler played 17 seasons in the National Hockey League with the Vancouver Canucks and Los Angeles Kings. He was with the Canucks for the first 15 seasons from 2006 to 2021, before spending his last two seasons with the Kings from 2021 to 2023. Edler did not play in 2023-24.
Edler had 104 goals and 335 assists for 439 points in 1030 games. He was a -19 with 733 penalty minutes, 177 power-play points, three shorthanded points, 11 game-winning goals, and 2131 shots on goal.
In 2011-12, Edler was a NHL All-Star. With the Canucks, he had 11 goals and 38 assists for 49 points in 82 games. He had 34 penalty minutes, 22 power-play points, one shorthanded point, 228 shots on goal, 145 blocked shots, 143 hits, 32 takeaways, and 51 giveaways.
Edler retires as the Canucks all-time leader in points among defensemen. In 925 games, he had 99 goals and 310 assists for 409 points. However, in the next two seasons, he could be caught and passed by current Canucks captain Quinn Hughes of Orlando, Florida. Already, Hughes has 333 points in only 365 games.
Chris Wideman
Wideman played six NHL seasons with the Ottawa Senators, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, and Montreal Canadiens. He was with the Senators from 2015 to 2018, the Oilers and Panthers in 2018, and the Canadiens from 2021 to 2023.
Like Edler, Wideman did not play the 2023-24 season. Wideman’s reason was due to a back injury. Wideman also spent one complete season with the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League in 2019-20, and one season with the Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the Kontinental Hockey League in Russia in 2020-21. While with Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod, Wideman was the KHL’s top defenseman.
In 291 NHL regular season games, Wideman had 20 goals and 58 assists for 78 points. He had 252 penalty minutes, 24 power-play points, five game-winning goals, 368 shots on goal, 271 blocked shots, 246 hits, 42 takeaways, and 176 giveaways.
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