Oliver Ekman-Larsson to sign one-year, $2.25 million contract with Florida Panthers

The Florida Panthers are expected to sign defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson to a one-year, $2.25 million contract with Swedish defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson.

TSN’s Darren Dreger was the first to report on the deal. Ekman-Larsson was recently bought out of his contract with the Vancouver Canucks; the Canucks said they’ll pay the Swedish defenseman $19.33 million over the next eight years.

Ekman-Larsson notched two goals and 20 assists for 22 points in 54 games averaging 20:11 of ice time during the 2022-23 season.

Ekman-Larsson was acquired by the Canucks in a trade that saw the No. 9 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft (Dylan Guenther) to the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Ekman-Larsson and forward Conor Garland. The six-foot-two left-shot defenseman did not return to his previous All-Star form upon arriving in British Columbia, recording just seven goals and 51 points in 133 games over two seasons with the Canucks.

The Karlskrona, Sweden product was initially drafted No. 6 overall in the 2009 NHL Draft by the Coyotes. He made his NHL debut in the 2010-2011 season, collecting 11 points in 48 games. He found full-time minutes with the Coyotes the following season where he appeared in all 82 regular season games. He helped the Coyotes reach the 2012 Western Conference Final, notching four points in 16 Stanley Cup Playoff games. He surpassed the 20-goal mark twice during his time in Arizona, once in 2014-15 scoring 23 and again the following season with 21.

As a result of his performance and being touted as the future for Arizona, the Coyotes signed Ekman-Larsson to a massive eight-year, $8.25 million AAV contract extension on July 1, 2018; the Coyotes named him team captain before the start of the 2018–19 season.