Mattias Ekholm is damn good

[Bringer of Jollity]

Preds fans said this for years, but all our guys get underrated because of how many good d-men we had. Always wished we'd traded Josi and kept Ekholm.

 

[PuckG]

Ekholm being as good as he is for as much as he is paid is absolutely huge for a team like the Oilers. We all hope Father Time delays itself as much as possible for him.

 

[Regal]

It’s amazing how stabilizing someone like him can be to a defense. While obviously it’s great to have a Norris level defensemen if you get one, in some ways I think it’s better to spend the money on the forwards if you can build a defense around having guys like Ekholm, Slavin, Lindholm, Tanev, etc.

 

[AnInjuredJasonZucker]

People have obsessed about the Oilers' cup window being a function of re-signing both Draisaitl and McDavid. Assuming 97 re-ups, the real determining factor for their window is Ekholm's longevity.

 

[rockymtnoyster]

Guys super underrated, with the likes of brodin defensively but gets no credit.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Ekholm is elite.

Does Nashville regret letting him go? They have sucked ever since.

I think us fans regret letting him go. Not sure management does. For some reason they figured, hey, we have McDonagh, who needs Ekholm? Uh, ok, now McDonagh wants out so let's grant him that wish and sign... Brady Skjei to an enormous contract to replace him? It's a definite downgrade sequence for the Preds.

Trotz had some grudge against Ekholm from back in the day. So I guess it's not surprising he dumped him. Schaefer was coming on this season before he got hurt, and Preds nation loves Tanner Molendyk who we got with the pick. Barrie was a bust. It hopefully won't be a total disaster of a trade assuming Molendyk is as good as we think and Schaefer at least makes it as a grinder. But it was still just unnecessary. We could have found better/other ways to draft Molendyk. And then not had to sign Skjei to that big contract.

Ekholm just made our 2nd pair work. He stabilized the defense. He made his partner (Carrier most recently) better. He was fantastic with Subban. I definitely wish we still had Ekholm. Oh well.

 

[thadd]

I hear a lot of Oilers fans often. Talk about how Zach Hyman is the best free agent signing we've ever made, but we rarely talk about how much value we got out of trading Barry to the Nashville predators.

I'm not sure I've seen Ekholm take any more than two retaliatory penalties this year. He always seems to know where to go. I love washing him pinch.

 

[Dust]

Phfff he’s no Lane Hutson though

The secret is that Hutson hides in his beard, so there's actually 6 on the ice.

 

[Skolman]

Edmonton has a real good top 3.
Bouchard has great offense.
Ekholm and Nurse are great all arounders.

Crazy Ekholm is getting so much praise and Nurse so much scorn when they are tied in points, and Nurse plays top minutes with the leftovers rather than getting a partner like Bouchard.

Real solid top 3. Kulak is a great bottom pairing guy and can flex into the top 4 when needed. The other guys aren't a weak link which is important for bottom pairing.

Still think there is room to upgrade at the deadline.

Don't quite understand what's funny about this post.

The casuals love to think Nurse is an AHL defenseman, meanwhile they haven't watched him play much at all this season, clearly.

Rent Free.

 

[The Panther]

Don't quite understand what's funny about this post.

The casuals love to think Nurse is an AHL defenseman, meanwhile they haven't watched him play much at all this season, clearly.

After the first 10 or so games this season, Nurse has mostly been terrific, I agree. Last season was by some distance his worst season (since about 2019 or something), and it really hurt the team.

The Cult of Hockey records lots of things like contribution to Grade-A chances for and against. At even strength this season, Nurse's passes to create Grade-A's vs. his contribution to Grade-A's against is 18 for, 9 against, which is great. (Bouchard's is 15 for, 25 against. Ouch. Bouchard is mainly an excellent player, but he needs to bear down in his own zone with the puck on his stick, which can be scary.)

Ekholm is somewhere in between. I still think, all things considered, Ekholm has been the Oilers' best D-man this season, and since he joined the club overall. But the great thing, from Edmonton's perspective, is that Nurse is making a case for himself, while we know Bouchard is capable of doing the same (he was lights-out from the middle of last season though the playoffs). Kulak has also raised his game this year.

Having 3 strong defenders consistently is a luxury the Oilers haven't often had. (We pause here to remember c.2021 when Dave Tippett used to put out Ethan Bear on the first PK unit...)

 

[CanadaIsIrrelevant]

A little bit of surprise that he is still elite at age 34.

Why?
Lidström were elite in his late 30s.

 

[SirKillalot]

Like 99% of fans told you that you're getting an outstanding defender. There is absolutely no surprise about his impact in Edmonton.

For sure not. There were so many saying why trading for him, because they didn't know him at all.
The best trade for the Oilers during the McDavid era. Just to bad they haven't done one more of these.

 

[tyhee]

Might be the best trade the Oilers ever made. ...

I've been an Oiler fan since the first days of the WHA and I actually agree with this assessment.

If we're going back to the days of the WHA, giving $850,000 cash for Eddie Mio, Peter Driscoll and a scrawny kid from Brantford, Ontario is pretty hard to top.

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Ek was great in Nashville and great now.


Neat.

 

[spot]

An Edmonton fan, I saw Ekholm only sporadically in his Nashville days. They had some very good teams when he was there.

When he was traded to Edmonton, I was pleased with the acquisition, though not sure if the Oilers kind of 'wronged' Tyson Barrie, who had done his job very well and was popular with teammates / fans, etc. However, it immediately became clear that acquiring Ekholm was a masterstroke by retired GM Ken Holland.

The first thing it did (in losing Barrie) was to elevate Evan Bouchard to PP quarterback, which he has remained ever since. Bouchard is still a somewhat inconsistent player overall (incl. offensively), but no doubt he a great point-man on the PP and has thrived in that role (and he's generally at his best in the playoffs).

The second thing the Ekholm acquisition did was to give Bouchard his ideal D-partner. Ekholm, the steady and reliable vet, could hold down the fort while Bouchard tried out his skillset on offense.

I did not realize, however, how high a 'hockey IQ" Ekholm had. Despite not being fleet of foot (he's 34 now), he is quite strong offensively, making sharp intelligent passes and cranking in his share of goals as well.

Check out the following stats, which are an aggregate of Ekholm / The Oilers since he was acquired by Edmonton at the end of February 2023:

NHL plus / minus
1. +92 Mattias Ekholm
2. + 81 Gustav Forsling
3. +68 Dylan DeMelo
4. +63 Leon Draisaitl
4. +63 Connor McDavid
(Worst = Philipp Kurashev at minus 74)

Defence Scoring
1. 167 Cale Makar
1. 167 Quinn Hughes
3. 138 Evan Bouchard
. . .
22. Kris Letang 84
23. Mattias Ekholm 81
25. Brent Burns 78

Defence Even-Strength Scoring
1. 100 Quinn Hughes
2. 92 Cale Makar
3. 85 Josh Morrissey
. . .
8. Roman Josi 74
9. Victor Hedman 74
10. Mattias Ekholm 71


Further, since Ekholm's acquisition, the Oilers have been the 2nd-best team in the NHL with a .680 points percentage (just .003 behind Dallas --- a team they eliminated last spring --- for 1st).

The team goals-against has been 8th-best in Ekholm's time with the Oilers (I'd guess that will rise by the end of this season). Since he became an Oiler, Edmonton has been better defensively than Vegas, Washington, or Minnesota, and is just a smidge behind New York and Boston (and they're certainly not doing so because of their goaltending).

In short, all praise Mattias Ekholm!

I was wondering, though, particularly for Nashville fans, how good was he in sum while he was a Predator? The stats suggest that he was quite good, and he picked up a few Norris votes in 2019. But of course most of that attention went to Roman Josi, understandably.

However, since Ekholm has been with Edmonton, he's essentially matched Josi in ES production while being massively more successful in ES results (of course, Josi loses ES minutes because he's on the power-play a lot; nevertheless...).

Josi is the more highly skilled player, no doubt, but I wonder what was Ekholm's reputation while in Nashville? In short, was he always as good as he's been the past two seasons with Edmonton?

Great post! Thank you. And thank you to Nashville, not just for entertaining the trade but for developing fantastic defenceman.

 

[Fourier]

If we're going back to the days of the WHA, giving $850,000 cash for Eddie Mio, Peter Driscoll and a scrawny kid from Brantford, Ontario is pretty hard to top.

Yah. That one beats the Ekholm deal if you call it a trade. Somehow this never seemed like a real trade to me.

 

[spot]

Ekholm is the long-awaited reply to the call for an all-round, steady, cerebral, top class defenseman to man the Oilers blueline. His skill set hasn't truly been seen since Pronger, who of course had even more nastiness and physicality along side it. Earlier, I have viewed him as a poor man's Hedman, but I am no longer so sure that man is all that poor.

Well, with TB barely hanging onto a wildcard spot let’s try and get Hedman just so we can compare the two

 

[spot]

Ek was great in Nashville and great now.


Neat.

haha neat…that’s such a funny word that I never say. Why?

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

haha neat…that’s such a funny word that I never say. Why?

 

[Czechboy]

Holland's best work for sure. Then Hyman.

Just need a RHD like Ek.

Nurse not getting enough love but playing well. Need a 4th top 4 guy and not bandaids. Gus debuts soon but he's not the answer there either.

 

[BonMorrison]

I definitely thought he would be declining by now but happy to see he hasn't.

We loved him on Nashville but also getting Molendyk out of that trade is a pretty easy pill to swallow especially with this team heading in rebuild direction if they keep sucking.

 

[Ghost of Murph]

Good to see Ekholm getting some love. I was shocked when Nashville parted ways with him. Having Ekholm, Josi, and Rinne/Saros kept the Preds in a lot of games. Edmonton was very smart to acquire him based on team needs.

 

[benfranklin]

Overrated

 

[glenngineer]

Ekholm is elite.

Does Nashville regret letting him go? They have sucked ever since.

Yes and no. Since the trade and the next couple of years, sure.

If Molendyk hits as a prospect, it was worth it. Not sure what his offensive ceiling will be but he’s an elite skater, good defensively, a leader but he does lack some size so will he get worn down? Does he become a first pairing guy? Lots of unknowns here.

 

[Jumptheshark]

Does anyone remember Andrei Markov with the Habs? Ekholm reminds me of him, Markov was good but not flashy and made nearly everyone of his D partners so good they got massive contracts and then fell off the face of the earth when they no longer played with him