Latest news on Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s commercial market

The hot stove heats up in the NHL and Oliver Ekman-Larsson is at the center of it all. It has been listed as Frank Seravalli’s main name Commercial bait board of directors for TSN and linked to the Edmonton Oilers. Darren Dreger threw cold water on the Edmonton connection as the Oilers are currently not on a short list of teams for which the Coyotes captain would waive his no-move clause, but Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman has again turns up the heat. Tweets de Friedman that the Boston Bruins and Vancouver Canucks are on this list of approved teams, while Craig Morgan of AZ Coyotes Insider says that Boston is a “preferred destination”.When a GM told Seravalli that a number of ‘franchise changing’ players are discussed every day, maybe that’s what he meant. Ekman-Larsson is the Coyotes’ highest paid player, their captain and has been an anchor on their blue line for years now. The 29-year-old defenseman has seven more years on a $ 66 million extension he signed in 2018 and is on a course of $ 8.25 million.

In a normal year, it’s hard to imagine Arizona even considering a move like this. But with new leadership at GM Bill Armstrong and a payroll that may need to be drastically reduced from the loss of current and future income, Ekman-Larsson may have played his last game for the Coyotes.

If this is true, it leaves a considerable legacy in the organization. Sixth overall pick in 2009, Ekman-Larsson was a full-time Coyotes player in the 2010-11 season and had 364 points in 723 regular season games. That only puts it behind Teppo Numminen for the franchise leader, even counting the original years of the Winnipeg Jets. His 125 goals have led all defensemen in the franchise and placed him among the top scorers for defensemen in the NHL.

This offensive production could certainly be the reason the Bruins checked in, given they could lose. Torey krug to unrestricted free agency in the coming days. Krug is one of the best offensive defensemen in the league, but his role could certainly be filled by Ekman-Larsson in the years to come.

It’s unclear how Boston or Vancouver fits a cap of $ 8.25 million into their current structure, but a deal like this would require a lot of moving parts, even without the cap implication. Vancouver, for example, could potentially come out of a bad contract like Loui Eriksson, who owes just $ 5 million in actual pay in the final two years of his contract after his signing bonus is paid. That said, adding a long-term cap doesn’t seem prudent for a Canucks team that will have to sign. Elias Pettersson and Quinn Hughes Before a long time.

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