With the NHL Trade Deadline less than a week away, the Edmonton Oilers have recently been linked to defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“I do think Edmonton’s interest in Ekman-Larsson is real,” said Elliotte Friedman on the 32 Thoughts podcast. “And I think it’s just going to be really interesting to see what happens with him in particular, because I do think they could do that if they wanted to.”

Ekman-Larsson is a 34-year-old left-shot defenceman carrying a $3.5 million cap hit and playing on the Toronto Maple Leafs, a team projected to be a seller at the trade deadline as they sit well out of a playoff spot. Thus far in his career, Ekman-Larsson has played eleven seasons with the Phoenix / Arizona Coyotes organization, two seasons with the Vancouver Canucks, one season with the Florida Panthers, in which he won the Stanley Cup, and the last two seasons with Toronto. Ekman-Larsson also recently represented Team Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.

Having allowed 12 goals in their last three games and ranking 26th in the NHL in goals allowed per hour on the season, the Oilers are certainly a team that could use some defensive help. Is Ekman-Larsson the right fit for their needs? Let’s take a closer look.

Diving into OEL’s numbers

To begin, we’ll dive into Ekman-Larsson’s underlying on-ice numbers. Using EvolvingHockey’s RAPM model, take a look below at OEL’s offensive and defensive impacts over the past four seasons:

In his second and final season in Vancouver, the Canucks deployed OEL in a very difficult environment. Though he averaged second-pairing minutes, Vancouver’s coaching staff gave his pair the toughest matchups, as he played about 33 percent of his minutes against elite competition per PuckIQ. For reference, Quinn Hughes was at about 27 percent. As seen on the graph above, the results were quite ugly — Ekman-Larsson ranked well below-average both offensively and defensively, and overall, the Canucks were out-scored 37 to 59 with OEL on-ice, equating to an abysmal 39 percent goal share.

In Florida the next season, his overall numbers saw a significant jump. His defensive impact was close to average, and his offensive impact in particular was fantastic, ranking in the 91st percentile among all defencemen. 

The contrast in OEL’s deployment between the two teams was stark. Whereas he played the heaviest minutes with the Canucks, OEL largely played third-pairing minutes in Florida, tied for fourth with Niko Mikkola in TOI% against elite competition among Florida’s........

© Oilers Nation