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Calvert said White is exactly the same, and it made him
an NHL player.
“He competes, that’s why he’s there and that’s why I’m
there,” Calvert said. “We’re not the flashiest guys in the
world but for me, that trumps everything. You can be the
least skilled or the most skilled, but if you have compete,
that’s what get you there. That’s what this room is.”
Ferland, Calvert and White said it’s exactly the same
for Edmundson, who also isn’t fun to play against during
games.
Even though they are good friends, all that is set aside
during NHL games.
“It’s tough,” White said. “They’re both left
Michael Ferland #27 of the Brandon Wheat Kings tries to work the puck around Thomas Carr #5 wingers and I’m a right-winger, I’m not giving
of the Medicine Hat Tigers during the first period of WHL action at Westman Place in Brandon, in them the ice. We’re buddies, but it’s on. It’s
2007. (Tim Smith/Brandon Sun)
a respect thing. If Matty is going into the wall
and I see him in a bad spot, I’m definitely going to be ‘Hey
Matty, I’m coming,’ but I’m still going to smack him
against the wall. That’s my job.”
In a division game against St. Louis while White was a
division rival with the Minnesota Wild, White buried one
of Edmundson’s teammates with a huge check when he
had his head down.
“I could feel Eddy coming up beside me and he was
chasing me down,” White said. “I could feel his stick. One
of the guys on his team was yelling at him ‘No, no, no,
we’re down, don’t fight him, don’t jump him’ and he never
did. But he was going to. That’s just the way it is.”
Ferland agreed, saying he grew up with Edmundson.
“In junior, he started fighting and beating the (crap) out
of guys and it was so weird watching Joel do that
because he’s one of the nicest kids I’ve ever played with,”
Ferland said. “Now he’s a beast. He’s mean and hard to
play against.”
Minnesota Wild's Ryan White (21) controls the puck as St. Louis Blues' Edmundson will be the only one of the five returning
Robert Bortuzzo (41) defends during the first period in Game 3 of an NHL
hockey first-round playoff series in 2017, in St. Louis. (Associated Press) to the team he started with last season in September.
While Whitecloud made his move from Bemidji State
to Vegas at the end of last season, and where he ends up
will be decided at camp, the other three all changing
addresses.
White finished the season with the Iowa Wild in the
American Hockey League, his first outside the NHL
since the 2008-09 season.
Ferland and Calvert will also leave the only teams
they’ve ever known. Ferland was part of a major deal
between the Calgary Flames and Carolina Hurricanes
on June 23, while Calvert left Columbus to sign with the
Colorado Avalanche on July 1.
Calvert, who had spent his entire professional career
in the Blue Jackets organization, was renting in
Columbus, so that wasn’t a big issue. He and his wife and
two kids bought a new house in Colorado.

St. Louis Blues' Joel Edmundson, left, is congratulated by St. Louis Blues' Vladimir Tarasenko, of
Russia, after scoring during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Toronto Maple
Leafs in 2017, in St. Louis. (Associated Press)