23/24 Player Profile: Mattias Ekholm

Last Year

Mattias Ekholm began last year with the Nashville Predators and ended his season as one of the newest members of the Edmonton Oilers. He was acquired by the Oilers at the trade deadline (along with a 6th-round pick) in exchange for power play specialist Tyson Barrie, Reid Schaffer (1st-round pick in 2022), and the Oilers’ 1st-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft (Nashville selected Tanner Molendyk), as well as a 4th-round pick in 2024.

That’s quite the haul for Nashville to get for Mattias Ekholm: two first-round picks essentially and Tyson Barrie, who helped quarterback the league’s best power play in NHL history. What gives? Why did he cost so much? Well, first, Ekholm has term. He still has three years left on his deal, including the upcoming season. The Oilers have a proven NHL player locked in at reasonable dollars now. Second, Tyson Barrie was making too much money to do a job that Bouchard is getting paid way less to do. It was a gamble that Bouchard could do Barrie’s job, but he has not faltered in it yet. He’s actually exceeded most expectations. Third, the Oilers have tons of offense, but the blue line was lacking players who could actually defend at a high level… Enter Ekholm for the price of two first-round picks and Barrie.

Ekholm is 6’4″ and uses his large frame and size to defend at near elite levels. On the Penalty Kill, it is a huge area the Oilers brought Ekholm in to help out with. With Nashville, Ekholm, while on the penalty kill, had a 5.97 GA/60 (Goals Against / 60 minutes). To compare that with the Oilers’ top penalty killers from last season, close to top-of-the-league numbers. The highest Oiler on the list with more than 100 TOI on the PK was Cody Ceci, who was sporting a 7.96 GA/60. Almost 2 full goals more allowed every hour compared to Ekholm in Nashville. That kind of penalty-killing work and defensive ability at even strength is exactly what the Oilers were paying for to get Ekholm on the blue line.

Once Ekholm joined the Oilers, he decided he didn’t just like defending, but he also liked to produce points. In 21 games with the Oilers, Ekholm scored 4-10-14, good for 0.66 PPG. If Ekholm kept that pace over a whole season, he would have been on pace for 55 points, which would set a career high for him by 11 points. Now, I don’t expect him to continue at those kinds of offensive levels, and if we are honest, he doesn’t really need to. The Oilers have so much offensive firepower. They need Ekholm to calm the ship on the back end, be an anchor to hold the defense together, lower the goals against, and help this team win its first division championship since 1987.

This Year

A full year of defensively smart hockey might be just what the doctor ordered for the Edmonton Oilers, and this year, it’s exactly what they should get from Mattias Ekholm.

I would expect this year for Ekholm to lead the Oilers in time on ice on the PK. He needs to be the steadying veteran presence. Oiler fans should expect Ekholm to take on just over 240:00 TOI on the PK. Nurse led the team last year with 238 TOI; expect Ekholm to take a bigger lead this year on that.

Should we expect any PP time for Ekholm? Probably not. PP1 is occupied by Bouchard, and if, for whatever reason, he goes down with an injury, Nurse is the next man up. Ekholm is third in line for PP duties on the first unit, which takes up close to 90% of the available PP time in a season. He may get some opportunities on the second unit, perhaps with two defensemen on it. Having him and Nurse on the second unit may happen at some points, but they’ll receive very little time.

At even strength, I would expect Ekholm to get 1st/2nd pairing minutes. He and Nurse may bounce back and forth on assignments depending on which teams the Oilers are playing and who is better suited to stopping the opposition’s elite players. Last year, Ekholm scored 4-8-12 at even strength in 21 games for the Oilers, translating to a 47-point pace per 82 games. With the Predators, Ekholm scored 5-10-15 in 57 games at even strength, translating to a 22-point pace per 82 games. I think Ekholm is somewhere in the middle of that as a player. Ekholm’s total for the season was 9-18-27 in 78 games at even strength. He did chip in a bit on the power play here and there in small quantities, but that pace is something I would project for Ekholm over a whole season this upcoming year. More scoring than in Nashville, less scoring than the 21-game heater he had to finish the year with Edmonton. With a focus on defense and mentoring first and having a more highly skilled team to be a part of, he should produce somewhere in the range of what he did last year with a little bit more.

Projection

Ekholm steadies the D-Core in Edmonton and produces 12-24-36 in his first full season here.

Next Up

Cody Ceci