It has been a tough season, to put it lightly, for Canucks defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. It just got a little tougher as head coach Rick Tocchet told reporters including Patrick Johnston of the Vancouver Province, that the veteran will be out “some weeks” due to an ankle injury.
The 31-year-old has struggled considerably in his own end which has helped contribute to Vancouver allowing the second-most goals in the NHL heading into today’s action. On top of that, Ekman-Larsson has underachieved offensively, scoring just twice while picking up 20 assists in 54 games, numbers that are well below what he was putting up with Arizona when he had a six-year stretch of recording at least 39 points. As a result of his struggles, his average ice time per game has dropped to 20:11, three minutes below his career average and his lowest since his rookie campaign back in 2010-11.
Ekman-Larsson still has four years left on his contract with Vancouver being responsible for a $7.26MM cap charge; Arizona is covering an additional $990K. With that much term remaining, it will be extremely difficult for GM Patrik Allvin to move him; carrying an eight-year buyout charge certainly isn’t ideal either. There’s no good situation for the Canucks moving forward when it comes to the veteran and now they’ll be without him for at least a few weeks. Christian Wolanin was recalled from AHL Abbotsford earlier today and could have an opportunity to get into the lineup fairly quickly.
Great pickup for a top 10 pick
Ya Garland part of that but he’s not doing too hot either.
Canucks a mess.
And the sad part is all the bad contracts they gave up are done after this year so not only could they have had that pick they could’ve been out of cap hell