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Oliver Ekman-Larsson

Injury Notes: Hughes, Ekman-Larsson, Dach

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Despite some optimism yesterday that he may return, the New Jersey Devils will take on the St. Louis Blues tonight without one of their key players. ESPN’s Greg Wyshynski reports that Jack Hughes is not playing in tonight’s game as he continues his recovery to full strength after an upper-body injury.

The news remains a blow to New Jersey, who have relied on Hughes’ scoring and playmaking abilities to take them back into playoff contention this season. They’ve still managed to record a point in all three games without Hughes, sustaining their only loss in a shootout to the Minnesota Wild last Saturday.

  • Vancouver Canucks defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson underwent X-rays today after sustaining a lower-body injury, according to a report by Sportsnet’s Randip Janda. The news comes after head coach Rick Tocchet stated that he didn’t expect Ekman-Larsson to play in the team’s upcoming game on Saturday against Philadelphia. It’s unclear when Ekman-Larsson suffered the injury, but he left last night’s 6-4 loss against the Rangers early. Ekman-Larsson has struggled defensively in his second season with the Canucks after a mild resurgence last year. Still, he’s recorded 22 points in 54 games played this season, second among Vancouver blue-liners.
  • The Montreal Canadiens announced that forward Kirby Dach is not playing in tonight’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes due to a non-COVID-related illness. Dach, who was acquired over the offseason from the Chicago Blackhawks, will be replaced in the lineup by Rem Pitlick. Pitlick returns to the Canadiens lineup after being a healthy scratch in their last two games. Dach’s absence will certainly be felt, as the talented forward is enjoying a breakout season and had three points in his last five games.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson Expected To Be Scratched

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When the Vancouver Canucks take on the Tampa Bay Lightning tonight, it appears as though they will have a $7.26MM defenseman sitting in the press box. Oliver Ekman-Larsson was with Kyle Burroughs on the fourth pairing at the morning skate according to Patrick Johnston of The Province, with Travis Dermott taking his place next to Tyler Myers.

Head coach Bruce Boudreau was asked directly about it, and said scratching Ekman-Larsson was “potentially true” though did then go on to call him “arguably [their] best defenseman.”

Ekman-Larsson, 31, has been dreadful this season for the Canucks, who have been outscored 44-34 at even strength with him on the ice. Those 44 goals against put him 7th-worst in the entire league among defensemen, and the worst on Vancouver in particular.

Since arriving from the Arizona Coyotes in a massive 2021 trade, his goal-scoring has also dried up. A two-time 20-goal scorer, Ekman-Larsson has just six in 119 games since joining Vancouver.

What has happened to the Canucks this season isn’t all his fault, but he is emblematic of the problem the team faces. They are not competitive, and yet have plenty of long-term, big-money contracts on the books. The $7.26MM for Ekman-Larsson isn’t even his full contract – the Coyotes retained $990K per season when they dealt him. It extends through 2026-27, and includes a full no-movement clause that he would have to waive again to orchestrate any kind of exit (other than a buyout, which currently would extend through 2031).

The Canucks have more than $69MM committed to just 14 players for next season. That does not include Bo Horvat or Andrei Kuzmenko, who are both pending unrestricted free agents.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson Suffers Fractured Foot At World Championship

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It was a disappointing World Championship on a couple of fronts for Vancouver defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.  Sweden blew a 3-0 lead in the third period to Canada on Thursday before falling in overtime and to add to that frustration, he was also injured as the Canucks announced (Twitter link) that he suffered a foot fracture in the tournament.

The veteran blueliner had a fairly quiet first season in Vancouver after coming over in a trade back at the draft last summer.  He picked up 29 points in 79 games, his lowest point per game average since his rookie year back in 2010-11.  Regardless, Ekman-Larsson still played over 22 minutes a game, second on the team to only Quinn Hughes while also taking a regular turn on both the power play and penalty kill.  He was similarly quiet at the Worlds, collecting just a pair of assists for Sweden in their six games while logging 19:20 per contest, third among their blueliners.

Fortunately for Ekman-Larsson and the Canucks, the recovery time for this injury is four to six weeks which means while his offseason training will be interrupted, he should be fully recovered by the time training camp rolls around in September.  Vancouver will likely be icing a similar back end to the one they had this season so they’ll be counting on Ekman-Larsson to have a bounce-back season in 2022-23.

Latest On Canucks’ Offseason Plans

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The Vancouver Canucks have lots of questions to answer this offseason. The most pressing one is whether they can get a deal done with head coach Bruce Boudreau, who has a negotiating window until June 1 but no contract extension in place just yet. The two sides have said all the right things when it comes to working together and will have to iron out a deal if the veteran coach is to stay put. It certainly seems like he’s going to be sticking around though, as Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reported yesterday on CHEK TV that Boudreau was present (virtually) in the meeting with Russian free agent Andrei Kuzmenko.

Beyond the coaching situation though, more decisions are coming on players like Brock Boeser, Bo Horvat, and J.T. Miller. Currently, none of the three are signed past the 2022-23 season, with Boeser not even signed for next season yet. If the new management group wanted to shake up the core, those three are certainly avenues to consider.

Still, there is another name that earns big money in Vancouver and could potentially be part of a retooling effort. Friedman went on to tell Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK TV that the team is trying to find a trade market for Oliver Ekman-Larsson, just a year after acquiring him from the Arizona Coyotes.

Now 30, Ekman-Larsson is signed to a massive eight-year, $66MM contract that won’t expire until the summer of 2027. As part of it, he also owns a full no-movement clause that gives him total control of his situation. When the Coyotes made it clear that they wanted to move him, Ekman-Larsson gave just two teams that he would be willing to go to–the Canucks and the Boston Bruins. If Vancouver has now soured, it seems he would have to provide someone else if a trade is to occur. The Bruins, of course, found their own Swedish defenseman at the deadline, acquiring and extending Hampus Lindholm to a long-term deal.

It’s not that Ekman-Larsson had a terrible year, as he put up 29 points in 79 games while averaging more than 22 minutes a night. But the contract that was so happily acquired by the previous management group is a difficult one to deal with, even despite the Coyotes retaining a small portion. Vancouver already has nearly $70MM in cap hits committed to next season with just 13 players, making it tough to really add to the group if they wanted to.

Again, the veteran defenseman has full control in this situation. A buyout would be untenable at this point and even if the Canucks wanted to retain additional salary to facilitate trade, Ekman-Larsson would have to first accept the destination.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Oliver Ekman-Larsson To Play In World Championship

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After a disappointing season in Vancouver, Oliver Ekman-Larsson is set to head overseas for a few weeks. The team announced today he’ll join Team Sweden for the upcoming 2022 IIHF World Championship.

Ekman-Larsson had a near career-low season, although his lows were previously set in shortened seasons. While he did improve defensively from his last few years in Arizona, he had just five goals and 29 points on the year, the only time he hasn’t hit 30+ points when playing 50+ games.

The veteran defenseman will look to reset this offseason, as the Canucks are still on the hook for his retained-salary $7.26MM cap hit through 2027.

Ekman-Larsson joins fellow NHLers Rasmus Dahlin, Erik Gustafsson, and Adam Larsson on the blueline. Other NHLers slated to join team Sweden are Rasmus Asplund, Emil Bemstrom, and Magnus Hellberg.

The tournament will run from May 13 to May 29.

Pacific Notes: Stephenson, Canucks, Russell

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After missing Friday’s game against Philadelphia for personal reasons, Vegas Golden Knights center Chandler Stephenson should be available for Sunday’s home tilt against the Minnesota Wild, according to head coach Peter DeBoer. Stephenson’s brought lights-out play for a Vegas team that’s needed him this season with a slew of injuries, producing at a career-best pace with 22 points in 25 games. All that’s been done while playing steep minutes (19:48 a game) and spending time without his usual pair of elite wingers in Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone. That line’s been reunited as Pacioretty and Stone are back healthy, and after Keegan Kolesar filled in down the middle for one game, Stephenson will return to his place atop the center depth chart for Vegas.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • There are some injury updates for the new and improved Vancouver Canucks under Bruce Boudreau, as the new head coach said today that Oliver Ekman-Larsson should be back next week, while Travis Hamonic is expected to miss two to three more weeks. While the team is undefeated under Boudreau, they’re facing a significant list of injuries. However, neither Ekman-Larsson nor Hamonic have been particularly impactful to start the year. Ekman-Larsson has just five points in 26 games to start his Vancouver career, a far cry from his peak of consistent 40-point campaigns. Hamonic has just an assist in nine contests as he’s found his way up and down between the NHL and AHL.
  • Injury news isn’t improving for the Edmonton Oilers defense, as head coach Dave Tippett notes that Kris Russell will be out for a couple of weeks. He joins Duncan Keith and Slater Koekkoek as Edmonton’s inactive blueliners. He’d been playing in an increased role with those injuries, but that responsibility now falls back on the shoulders of young defensemen Philip Broberg and William Lagesson.

Brad Marchand Suspended Three Games

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The Department of Player Safety has issued a three-game suspension to Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand for slew-footing Vancouver Canucks defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson last night.

As the accompanying video explains:

It is important to note that there are many occasions during the course of a game where players use either their legs or their stick and upper body to restrain or impede opponents, or to gain leverage during a puck battle. When these players rise to the level of being illegal, the vast majority of them can be adequately punished with in-game penalties.

What causes this play to rise to the level of supplementary discipline, is Marchand’s use of both his upper and lower body to take Ekman-Larsson to the ice in a dangerous fashion and the speed at which the players are traveling towards the boards. 

While the video includes reasoning on why it rises to the level of supplementary discipline, it’s Marchand’s lengthy history with the DoPS that makes it a three-game ban. The Bruins forward has been suspended six times in the past, including once for a slew foot in 2015.

Ekman-Larsson did not suffer a serious injury on the play. Marchand was also not penalized, but he will have to sit down for the Bruins next three games and forfeit more than $90K in salary.

Vancouver Canucks Acquire Oliver Ekman-Larsson, Conor Garland

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The Vancouver Canucks have landed their big fish, acquiring Oliver Ekman-Larsson from the Arizona Coyotes. The team will also land restricted free agent forward Conor Garland, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports. The Coyotes are expected to receive Vancouver’s first-round pick this year (9th overall), a 2022 second-round pick and forwards Antoine Roussel, Loui Eriksson and Jay Beagle, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet, who also notes that the Coyotes will be retaining 12 percent of Ekman-Larsson’s salary. CapFriendly adds that a 2023 seventh-round pick will also be going to the Coyotes.

This is a huge deal in terms of salary, as the Canucks clear three bad contracts off the books to make room for Ekman-Larsson. The 30-year-old defenseman carries a cap hit of $8.25MM through the 2026-27 season, but is owed $10.5MM in actual salary each of the next three years. Even after the Coyotes retained a portion of it ($990K/season), Vancouver is taking on a huge risk that the veteran defenseman will be able to not only maintain his current level of play, but rebound to the levels that landed him that deal in the first place.

In 2018 when he signed the eight-year, $66MM extension, Ekman-Larsson was coming off a 14-goal, 42-point campaign with the Coyotes. He had previously received votes for the Norris Trophy on four occasions and had just posted his fifth consecutive season with double-digit goal totals. The risky part, even then, was that it was a true extension, signed with a full year still left on his previous deal. While that final year at $5.5MM was also very productive, this new contract hasn’t brought much success for the Swedish defender.

In 2019-20, he scored just nine goals and 30 points in 66 games, while seeing his possession numbers drop across the board. Despite still seeing prime powerplay time, his effectiveness with the man-advantage dropped, resulting in just seven powerplay points. This season, he scored just three times in 46 games, logging his lowest point total since the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign. That came after a 2020 offseason filled with trade talks, with Vancouver and Boston the two teams he told Arizona he’d be willing to go to.

To make room for him in Vancouver, the team is moving out three contracts that total $12MM in cap room this season, but will actually require just $8.1MM in actual salary (minus some of the bonus payments that were likely already made by the Canucks) from the Coyotes. The most crucial part for Arizona is that each of Roussel, Beagle and Eriksson will become unrestricted free agents next season, meaning this is very little commitment from the Coyotes. A high first-round pick to swap Ekman-Larsson’s expensive deal for ones that will only affect the team this season is a steal, though there is of course that other player heading to Vancouver.

Garland, 25, has come on as the Coyotes most impressive forward in recent years, scoring 39 points in each of the last two seasons. His 47 goals in 164 games since entering the NHL will be a welcome addition to the Canucks lineup, though how much it will cost is still uncertain. Garland is an arbitration-eligible restricted free agent with quite a case, after his previous two-year, $1.55MM (total) deal expires.

In all, this is a risk from the Canucks standpoint. Betting on Ekman-Larsson to rediscover his top-end form in a flat-cap era is one that could cost them good, young players in the future, especially given the other negotiations that the Canucks have coming up this summer. Sure, they moved out some bad money for this year, but this deal has financial ramifications that far outreach the 2021-22 season.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Trade Rumors: Jones, Foegele, Tkachuk

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A Seth Jones trade seems like a foregone conclusion this off-season. The Columbus Blue Jackets defenseman has stated that he will not sign an extension before his current contract expires after the 2021-22 and will test the free agent market, all but guaranteeing that he will not re-sign with the team. The retooling Blue Jackets are not going to watch another star player walk away as they get nothing in return and recognize that Jones’ value will be much higher this summer as opposed to dealing him in-season. Columbus’ leverage is damaged by Jones’ public statements, but the team will try to create a bidding war to drive up the price. There should be no shortage of interest and one team is already hot on the trail. In his latest “31 Thoughts” column, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman writes that the Philadelphia Flyers are “definitely” in on Jones and that it isn’t exactly a secret either. Friedman states that there is a lot of chatter surrounding a potential Jones-to-Philly deal already. The Flyers have been open about their desire to add another top pair defenseman across from Ivan Provorov and have a number of talented young roster players and a deep pipeline to offer Columbus whatever they want. In need of top center, perhaps the Blue Jackets will buy low on 2017 second overall pick Nolan Patrick as part of a package for Jones, a top-five pick himself.

  • Another player on the trade block, though not as publicly as Jones, is Carolina Hurricanes forward Warren Foegele. Foegele is looking to play a bigger role and on a deep Hurricanes roster he has been limited to bottom-six responsibilities. At first it seemed like Carolina may be reluctant to move the underrated forward, but it seems the tides are turning. Friedman believes that the ’Canes are going to re-shape their bottom-six after falling short in the playoffs once again and that Foegele’s unofficial trade request may just be honored. He reports that trade talks are occurring between Carolina and Foegele suitors. Friedman adds that impending unrestricted free agent Jordan Martinook is another player unlikely to return to Raleigh next season.
  • One player that Friedman does not see moving: Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk. While this may seem like common sense, the Flames are listening to all offers right now and could be making some major changes this summer. There were also whispers that Tkachuk himself may want to leave, however those rumors were met with swift and firm denials. As Friedman points out, that is a contrasting approach to how other teams have treated players who have recently asked to leave, such as Jones or Arizona’s Oliver Ekman-Larsson, implying that the rumors are in fact false. Friedman reports that Tkachuk’s name never came up in Calgary’s Pierre-Luc Dubois negotiations and the team has zero interest in trading him.

Coyotes, Oliver Ekman-Larsson Again Exploring Trade Possibilities

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Another off-season, another attempt by the Arizona Coyotes and defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson to scour the trade market for a potential fit. The two sides worked together last year to find a new home for Ekman-Larsson, but to no avail. The veteran defenseman offered only two possible destinations – the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks – that he would waive his No-Movement Clause for and neither team made a suitable offer. As a result, Ekman-Larsson played for the ’Yotes again this season. One year later and one year further into his eight-year, $66MM contract, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports that they will again try to find a suitable trade fit this off-season.

Per Friedman, the approach this summer will be different. Rather than Ekman-Larsson telling Arizona where he would be willing to go, GM Bill Armstrong will gauge the market and bring offers from any interested teams back to OEL to see if he is also interested. This doesn’t necessarily mean that their odds of finding a deal will improve, especially if Ekman-Larsson remains narrowly focused on just a few possible destinations, but it will allow for the Coyotes to better understand his market value so as to potentially work with those teams that he would go to. Boston and Vancouver for instance are both still in need of a top-four defenseman.

Market value could be the key here as the ’Yotes very likely think more highly of Ekman-Larsson’s worth than do other teams around the league. They are after all the ones who signed him to his current albatross of a contract, which still has six years left at an $8.25MM AAV. OEL also did little to improve his trade stock this season; while his offense recovered to his career average, his time on ice per game fell to a new low since his rookie season and his per-game shots, blocks, and hits were all below his career average. Any deal would almost certainly have to include salary retention by the Coyotes, but the return may also be less than what they might have expected and wanted. With that said, Ekman-Larsson is still on the right side of 30 (for another month) and has a strong track record in the NHL, so there could very well be teams that still see the upside in adding the accomplished veteran to their blue line.

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