Newly bought out defender could peak the interest of the Leafs
As Leaf fans, we know how it goes. Every summer, a number of names hit the market, either as UFAs, RFAs, or trade chips and pretty much all of them are connected to the Leafs. It's just how it works in the hockey sphere. However, while some suggestions are pretty farfetched and are conjecture more than anything else, others are far more realistic - even if the player involved seems like a reach.
Oliver Ekman-Larsson was bought out by the Vancouver Canucks on Friday in a move that is being widely criticized. The move saves the Canucks just under $9.7M over the lifetime of OEL's deal, but will leave the team paying for it over the next 8 years. For those who haven't seen the terms of the buyout, the Canucks will pay OEL $146K next season, then $2.346M in 24-25, $4.766M in 25-26 & 26-27, then $2.126M in the following 4 seasons.
With Ekman-Larsson now an unrestricted free agent following his buyout, it opens the door for a team to step in and nab an NHL-caliber defenseman for a fraction of what he might be worth in the event that he can bounce back.
Yes, I'm aware of the fact that automatically linking OEL to the Leafs would be a stretch. However, as TLN's Nick Alberga pointed out in an article on Friday, Ekman-Larsson does have some pretty solid connections to the Leafs in Brad Treliving and Shane Doan.
We all know about Doan's longstanding connection to the Coyotes organization. He was a teammate of Ekman-Larsson's - the captain, in fact - during his playing days in Arizona. Then, once he retired, Doan remained around the organization. What many don't know, however, is that Treliving was a member of the Coyotes front office when they drafted Ekman-Larsson and remained there for 4 seasons before landing in Calgary. Alberga also pointed out that Treliving was one of the GMs who had interest in OEL when Arizona was originally looking to trade him, before he landed in Vancouver. A short-term ''show me'' deal seems like a legitimate possibility here.
Ekman-Larsson isn't a top pairing defenseman any longer. We know this. The Leafs could benefit from having another top pairing defenseman, but they could also use an experienced option to play lower in the lineup - especially if the cost is a modest one. At this point, the odds of OEL being a game-changer aren't very good, but he's definitely going to be a solid enough role-player for an NHL team, and with his connections to Treliving and his right-hand-man, Shane Doan, it's a reasonable enough theory that that team could be the Leafs.
After being a 40-point defenseman or better in 5 of 6 seasons from 2013-14 to 2018-19, and then putting together a couple of good, productive seasons around half a point per game during the COVID-shortened 2019-20 and 2020-21 seasons, he was traded to the Vancouver Canucks, where his production took a nose dive in 2021-22. Ekman-Larsson notched just 29 points that season, playing in 79 of 82 games for the Canucks. He was a +5 that season. However, this year, Ekman-Larsson saw his production begin to climb again, recording 22 points in 54 games, but his overall play begin to decline substantially. OEL posted a -24 +/- rating this past season, which is the third-worst of his entire NHL career.
Ekman-Larsson has posted double-digit goal totals in 7 of his 13 NHL seasons, with his highest goal total being 23 goals in 2014-15. He followed that performance up with a 21-goal season in 2015-16. Had COVID not hit and shut down the NHL season early in 2019-20, OEL would have hit double-digits that season as well, having scored 9 goals in 66 games before the shutdown. It tells us that he's a legitimate shooting threat from the blueline - something Toronto lacks. The smart money is on Treliving at least checking in on Ekman-Larsson.
| POLL | ||
JUIN 17 | 315 ANSWERS Newly bought out defender could peak the interest of the Leafs Will the Leafs sign Oliver Ekman-Larsson to a ''show me'' deal this summer? | ||
| Yes | 159 | 50.5 % |
| No | 156 | 49.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
