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Who is this guy?
Alexander Ulf Niklas Edler. Some folks just go with Alex. True fans call him Eddie Ulf.
Position: Defense
Shoots: Left (duh)
Height: 6'3''
Weight: 215 lbs
Born: April 21st, 1986 in Osterlund, Sweden. Also home to Ross Mair, the "cutest living thing in the universe." Thanks Wikipedia, now I smell a conspiracy.
What'd he do?
The last time we visited our friend Eddie Ulf, he was coming off his worst season to date: a league-worst -39, the worst PDO of any blueliner over 1,000 minutes, several visuals of making his coach nuts. It was, in a sense, not good.
He was a prime target to be approached by new GM Jim Benning, waive his NTC and find a fresh start somewhere else while the re-tooling Canucks wiped his cap off the books. But nope, instead the new brass threw their support behind Edler rebounding (perhaps noting - correctly - that there's few ways to replace him from within the organization) and Edler rewarded their faith and investment in him with a strong season.
With former line mate Jason Garrison banished to Florida (I recognize it's hardly a banishment considering what two teams are left playing right now), Desjardins paired Edler with the right-handed Tanev and the duo quickly became the most reliant defensive pairing on the roster. On the offensive side, while he wasn't as productive as in previous seasons, he was largely consistent and enjoyed his best numbers since 2012, including tying his career best with 5 PP tallies.
A lot has been said about how the Canucks got great depth scoring during stretches filled with injury and the same can be said about Lack replacing Miller when he was sidelined, but look at Tanev and Edler together (via War-on-Ice) in comparison with the rest of the defense. That's why the blue future is locked in with those two.
So was he any good?
Season |
Games |
Points |
SH% |
Corsi For% |
Fenwick For % |
DZSO%Rel |
PDO |
|
|
Ice time/gm |
|
|
|
2014-2015 |
74 |
31 |
4.6 |
52.3 |
58.4 |
32.5 |
101.5 |
|
|
23.9 |
|
|
|
2013-2014 |
63 |
22 |
3.9 |
54.8 |
51.9 |
32.9 |
94 |
|
|
23.3 |
|
|
|
2012-2013 |
45 |
22 |
7.1 |
55.2 |
50.7 |
28.4 |
99.7 |
|
|
24.1 |
|
|
|
2011-2012 |
82 |
49 |
4.8 |
56.1 |
51.3 |
27.3 |
101.3 |
|
|
23.9 |
|
With his increased defensive responsibilities, his Corsi began slowly trending downwards which can be expected. However his PDO and shooting % jumped from his 2013-14 blackhole which, looking at the HockeyAnalysis graph above, is really where his problems were most felt. Overall his numbers started trending in the right direction and, while he may never achieve that Norris-like proficient 29 minutes a night, he's shown himself to be dependable against the stronger opposition while also being a threat on the other end of the ice.
What'd we like?
LOVE that aggressive stick tapping on the Nashville goal.
Cool. So what did we hate?