On today’s episode of Locked On Oilers, host Nick Zararis dives deep into the uncertain future of veteran defenseman Mattias Ekholm. As the Edmonton Oilers attempt to extend their Stanley Cup window, Ekholm’s age, injury history, and value as Evan Bouchard’s partner raise major questions. Can the Oilers afford another multi-year deal? How do other aging defensive defensemen like Chris Tanev, Ryan McDonagh, and Kris Letang compare?
Drop your thoughts in the comments: Should the Oilers re-sign Ekholm or plan for his replacement?
0:00 Intro: Oilers’ decisions on Matthias Ekholm’s future
5:14 Challenges in valuing defensive defensemen
10:22 Current NHL market for aging defensemen
15:58 Comparing Ekholm to other defensive contracts
20:04 Ekholm’s importance to Oilers’ playoff success
24:38 Finding the right partner for top defensemen
28:41 Outro: Subscribe to Locked On NHL
The Edmonton Oilers face a crucial decision on Mattias Ekholm’s future
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8 Comments
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Just need a goalie
Ekholm's impact isn't just to prevent Bouchard from "eating it", it's also to makeup for Bouchard's C- level of defensive defense and game breaking giveaways. One of the reasons Edmonton's D improved was because of finally kind of getting the balance correct by evening out the "best defense is offense" approach. Ekholm was an acute safety net for Bouchard and in general, one for Nurse, too. Wolman isn't good enough defensively to fill that hole if Ekholm departs. Certainly, Bouchard and Nurse won't evolve their game. Lol. They're already playing, sadly, at max capacity.
I’m playing oilers franchise GM and moved skinner down to AHL with Pickard. They are doing pretty good there. I did some nice trades and got Kane and Nurse to waive. Got D’accord and Wallstead in net and they’re both monsters. Also trading Nurse and Kane for Mikko Rantanen was pretty sweet. On my way to second straight cup!🎉
Walman replacing Ekholm straight up strikes me as wishful thinking.
It's insanity that Nurse makes 9.25 and he's not even in consideration for being our top pairing LD with Bouchard.
I'd be happy giving Ekholm an extension of 4 years x 3mil if he'd give us the discount
Tr5he position is called DEFENSEMAN, which would lead one to believe that playing good defense would be key to that position. these plays you say are hard to measure are not that hard. Bad defensive decisions show up in the number of scoring chances the other team gets and your teams goal's against average. If you can't keep the puck out of your net you cannot win with any consistency. Is there a cap on defensive defensemen with little offensive up side? Sure, but every team needs them.
The management is NOT thinking for the muscle power they will need during the run to the Stanley. A team such as what they had last year WILL NOT DO.