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Player Discussion Mattias Ekholm

ChaoticOrange

ChaoticOrange

Registered User
Jun 29, 2008
51,841
32,002
Edmonton
Didn't see a thread for the big guy.

He's been flat out awesome since he got here.

Smart, smooth, fantastic positional defence. Excellent fancies (over 70% high danger chances for)

And even more impressive to me, he's doing this while largely being hardmatched against elite competition - more than half his icetime so far has been against the best other teams have to offer.

He's the closest thing we've had to Pronger since Pronger.
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He got more TOI than Nurse last night which was refreshing to see. Nurse limited to 21mins when going with 6 Dmen is a good change for all.

Having said that, he isn't anything close to Pronger in terms of effectiveness on the ice that one season. McDavid is .
 
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LTIR said:
He got more TOI than Nurse last night which was refreshing to see. Nurse limited to 21mins when going with 6 Dmen is a good change for all.

Having said that, he isn't anything close to Pronger in terms of effectiveness on the ice that one season. McDavid is .
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So he's not Chris Pronger, as if that guy was just over looked?

He's been an excellent fit and he appears to be a very good player.
 
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Best dman Oilers have had since Pronger... and only making $6 million. You can just see how he oozes leadership. It's like we also traded for a better version of Bouchard as well when we got Ekholm.

$15 million for your top 2 dmen doesn't sound so bad... and makes the Nurse's contract more bearable.
 
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LTIR said:
He got more TOI than Nurse last night which was refreshing to see. Nurse limited to 21mins when going with 6 Dmen is a good change for all.

Having said that, he isn't anything close to Pronger in terms of effectiveness on the ice that one season. McDavid is .
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I agree Ekholm isn't Pronger, but Pronger also isn't McDavid. McDavid will end up a top 3 player all time. Pronger doesn't even crack the top 20.

Either way Ekholm is refreshing on the backend. He does a lot of things better than Nurse and he's much more calm under pressure than Nurse. Nurse playing 20 mins per night should solidify our 2nd pair. Ekholm should be up in the 22-24min range regularly going forward.
 
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McFlyingV said:
I agree Ekholm isn't Pronger, but Pronger also isn't McDavid. McDavid will end up a top 3 player all time. Pronger doesn't even crack the top 20.
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Which is why I included 'that season' .. Pronger controlled the game for our team like no one else before and including McDavid..

I can live with "best Dman since Pronger" if/once Ekholm shows some more physicality and offense.
 
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LTIR said:
Which is why I included 'that season' .. Pronger controlled the game for our team like no one else before and including McDavid..

I can live with "best Dman since Pronger" if/once Ekholm shows some more physicality and offense.
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Even if he doesn’t, which dman since Pronger have we had that is better?
 
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LTIR said:
Which is why I included 'that season' .. Pronger controlled the game for our team like no one else before and including McDavid..

I can live with "best Dman since Pronger" if/once Ekholm shows some more physicality and offense.
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You might be surprised to learn a couple things.

Chris Pronger, in his year in Edmonton, didn't even average a hit per game (65 hits in 80 games in the regular season). He was nasty when he had to be, but most of his effectiveness came from his smarts, reach, and positioning moreso than his physicality.

Additionally, over the last 5 seasons, Mattias Ekholm is 19th in the NHL for even strength points among D. And he's never had a McDavid or a Draisaitl to pass to. At evens, he's been more productive than guys like Ekblad, Pietrangelo, Hughes, Heiskanen, Morrissey, and many other surprising names.
 
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I'd even consider Sheldon Souray's 08/09 season. The man was a beast and was actually good in his own zone despite the Team we had then. I believe he even lead the team in goals and possibly points.

**Remember, I'm talking about that one particular season.

Pronger
Ekholm
Souray (Injury issues/Feud with Lowe) ~ Amazing shot
Nurse
Visnovsky (injuries)

Are my top 5 since the last cup final
 
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The Pronger comparison is a bit unfair. Pronger was a literal cheat code on defense. Much like McDavid is today on the other side of the ice.

Nevertheless Ekholm is IMO far and away the best overall stabilizing defensemen we have had since Pronger. Just love seeing him not scare the crap out of me in the d-zone.
 
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Vagabond said:
I'd even consider Sheldon Souray's 08/09 season. The man was a beast and was actually good in his own zone despite the Team we had then. I believe he even lead the team in goals and possibly points.

**Remember, I'm talking about that one particular season.

Pronger
Ekholm
Souray (Injury issues/Feud with Lowe) ~ Amazing shot
Nurse
Visnovsky (injuries)

Are my top 5 since the last cup final
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Whitney before gimped foot was pretty good.

Klefbom, Gilbert a couple other good ones.
 
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Vagabond said:
I'd even consider Sheldon Souray's 08/09 season. The man was a beast and was actually good in his own zone despite the Team we had then. I believe he even lead the team in goals and possibly points.

**Remember, I'm talking about that one particular season.

Pronger
Ekholm
Souray (Injury issues/Feud with Lowe) ~ Amazing shot
Nurse
Visnovsky (injuries)

Are my top 5 since the last cup final
Click to expand...

Sekera also had a couple pretty damn good seasons for us.
 
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Not that he had his best season here, but the 'best defenseman we had since Pronger' discussion does deserve this honorable mention:

1678218680465.png
 
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He's been everything as advertised and then some, so I'm very happy with him.

As for Pronger, I seem to recall the first half or so of the year, he actually struggled, as the NHL just introduced their new holding, etc rules, trying to open up things, and Chris had some problems adjusting. Once he got the hang of it though, he was fantastic.
 
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Stoneman89 said:
He's been everything as advertised and then some, so I'm very happy with him.

As for Pronger, I seem to recall the first half or so of the year, he actually struggled, as the NHL just introduced their new holding, etc rules, trying to open up things, and Chris had some problems adjusting. Once he got the hang of it though, he was fantastic.
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It was actually the year he never got suspended and took less PIMs, Mac-T really had him focused staying on the ice. Plus he was just awesome.
 
jeffff said:
You know he's a great pick up when at first guys were comparing him to Barrie.....and now its Pronger.
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No one’s comparing him to Pronger, just that he is better than all the guys we have had…since Pronger. If you slowly go back in time he is better than all the guys, but once you hit Pronger, he stops being better. Pronger was a way better player, but everyone since then hasn’t been great.
 
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