‘He’s been great for us’: Canucks’ buyout of Oliver Ekman-Larsson has been Panthers’ gain
Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s two seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, to say the least, didn’t go as planned. The offensive-minded defenseman struggled during his time in western Canada, with a twice-injured left foot hindering his chance to be as productive as he was during the early stages of his career with the Arizona Coyotes. The Canucks, as a result, bought out his contract following the 2022-23 season and made him a free agent.
Vancouver’s buyout of Ekman-Larsson certainly has turned out to be the Florida Panthers’ gain.
The Panthers signed Ekman-Larsson to a one-year deal in the offseason, and the 32-year-old has been a steady presence for the Panthers through the first third of the season. He stabilized their blue line in the early going while Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour were sidelined and keeping up his production even after his ice time dropped following their returns.
Ekman-Larsson is making a return of sorts now, too, playing in Vancouver on Thursday for the first time since that buyout this summer.
“He’s a very proud man, as you would have to be to have the career that he’s had,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “I mean, he was the driving player in Arizona for a very long time and then he got into the injury trouble. I think it was humbling when he gets bought out after being that kind of player. He wants an opportunity to come back into the league and be the player he was. This was the perfect fit for him. He’s healthy. He gets to play with good players and have good players in front of him.”
Added Ekman-Larsson: “It helps us having Monty and Ekky back. You win as a team and that’s what’s fun about being on a good team. You have a lot of options and need everybody to chip in. That’s what we do. I like our game. ... It’s nice to have a lot of options and we have a lot of good hockey players on this team.”
Ekman-Larsson is included in that group of good hockey players.
He’s in his 14th NHL season and is playing like he is in his prime. Entering Thursday’s game against Vancouver, Ekman-Larsson already has seven goals and another seven assists through 28 games. The seven goals are tied for fourth among NHL defensemen — and matches his goal total from his 133 games played over two seasons with Vancouver. He is on pace for a 41-point season, which would be his highest since the 2018-19 season.
“Now, he’s back into that kind of marquee game,” Maurice said. “You get seven goals as a defenseman one-third of the way into the season, you’re a big-time player. We’ve been good for him, but he’s been great for us.”
And Ekman-Larsson’s production has remained strong despite his average ice time getting slashed by nearly seven minutes per game since Ekblad and Montour returned in mid-November.
Ekman-Larsson scored his first four goals during Florida’s first 16 games when Ekblad and Montour were still rehabbing from offseason shoulder surgery. At that time, Ekman-Larsson was part of the Panthers’ top defensive pairing with Gustav Forsling and ran the top power-play unit. That led to him averaging just shy of 24 minutes of ice time each game.
Since Ekblad and Montour returned, Ekman-Larsson has dropped down to Florida’s third defensive pairing, working with either Dmitry Kulikov or Uvis Balinskis, and going down to the second power-play unit. His average time on ice the past 12 games: 16 minutes, 41 seconds. His offensive production has remained steady despite the decreased game action, with Ekman-Larsson scoring three goals in those dozen games.
“He’s just a really good pro and really focused,” Maurice said. “He’s also smart. He knows the advantage. When you’re playing in the one hole, you’re also playing against the one players, so the players he’s playing against now aren’t going to defend quite as well as the ones that he’s been used to playing his whole career. And there’s also no reason that he’s not necessarily there for the year. Those minutes can come up. ... We will get to a point where you’ll see if Ekman-Larsson’s play continues to be that good, he’s gonna play more minutes.”
To Ekman-Larsson, though, the minutes he plays and the amount of goals he scores are irrelevant. He views himself as one piece of the puzzle that the Panthers need to be successful.
“It’s always nice to score goals and obviously I try to do my part out there, but I don’t really think about the goals,” Ekman-Larsson said. “I just try to play my game and try to play good defense. I know everything else will come when you do that.”
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