Mattias Ekholm signs 3-year contract extension with Edmonton! w/ Steve Dangle | Instant Analysis

It continues to be good news for the Edmonton Oilers. Just a couple days after signing Conor McDavid to a shocking two-year contract extension at an extension of his current contract, $12.5 million. The Edmonton Oilers lock up Matias Ekhome for what is likely the rest of his NHL career. 3 years, $4 million per. How did they get home to take less with the salary cap going up and everything? Oh my goodness. Well, the easy answer is he’s 35. And by the end of his contract, he’ll be older than 35. He’ll be 38. But, and this applies to most of the things that the Oilers are are doing right now. Who cares about a few years from now? Here’s what the Edmonton Oilers currently have this season, the season after, and the season after. What happens after those seasons? Who knows? And who cares? Oilers could be three cups deep by then. Maybe that’s aggressive, but I already planted my flag when McDavid signed his contract. The Oilers are winning a Stanley Cup over the life of his deal, his new deal that he signed. So, here’s the deal. Evan Buchard’s contract extension just kicked in, $10.5 million this season. Obviously, that’s a significant raise. Going forward into the next two seasons though, Conor McDavid’s 12.5 million stays flat. Jake Walman’s 3.4 million goes up to 7, but Matias Eckholm’s 6 million goes down to four, negating a big chunk of Jake Walman’s raise. All of Buchard, Nurse, Walman, and Ekholm are signed for this season and the two seasons that follow. The cap is going up. Skinner, Pickard, and Ingram are expiring UFAs. You do the math. Dry Cidle’s locked up and he’s not getting a raise. McDavid’s locked up and he’s not getting a raise. Hyman’s locked up and he’s not getting a raise. Nan Hopkins is locked up and he’s not getting a raise. Frederick is locked up and he’s not getting a raise. Even for this next season, Majapane is locked up and he’s not getting a raise. And Yanmar so far the only guy getting a raise next season is Vasili Pod Coulson. And it’s not even that big. He’s going from one to it’s not even three, it’s 2.95. You’ve got a young costcontrolled guy like Seavoy. You got a young costcontrolled guy like Isaac Howard. There is a lot to like about what the Oilers are doing. But Ekholm specifically, how good is he? Over his time in the NHL, he’s been one of the more underrated and preposterously consistent defenders in the league. A 6’5, 225-lb defenseman who scores. Who doesn’t want that? The only real Cardinal sin that he commits is shooting left-handed. Beyond that, he’s essentially the perfect defenseman. He had nine goals and 33 points, scoring at just over half a point a game last season, and then he battled injury. The Oilers found a way to win in the playoffs without him. And then when he returned, he gave them seven games played, six points in those seven games. I know Ken Holland gets a lot of mixed reviews in Edmonton, but this move was a banger. First of all, it’s crazy the Oilers got the Predators to retain salary on Ekholm for as long as they did, even though it wasn’t that big of a retention. Nashville’s so weird. Their run so strangely, and the Oilers took advantage of that. And in terms of what the Oilers gave up, eh, Reed Schaefer looks good in the Miners, but he hasn’t played an NHL game yet. Tyson Barry retired. The first round pick the Oilers gave the Predators in 2023 was 24th overall, and Tanner Molandique looks good in junior so far. And the fourth rounder the Oilers gave the Predators at that deal was actually flipped to the Lightning in the Ryan Mcdana deal. As in the Ryan Mcdana deal where the Predators gave Mcdana back. Just again a deeply weird team. He’s huge. Bomb of a shot. Really solidifies the Oilers decor when they badly needed it and allows Evan Bousard to be Evan Bousard. For all of Evan Bousard’s warts, and there are warts in his game, some of the most elite offensive defenseman of all time have warts in their game, but they’ve had a partner who holds it down for them. When Ekholm is with Bard, it’s the best version of both of them. Adding to Ekholm, I don’t think people are doing the math right on the Oilers with Jake Walman. You realize they have Jake Walman all season this year, right? And yeah, he signed his extension, but it doesn’t kick in until next year. The Oilers have Jake Walman for $3.4 million and they got him all year. They only had him post deadline last year. Yeah, losing Zack Heyman sucks. That sucks. While he’s out injured, that sucks and is no fun. And did I mention it sucks? They still need to prove that they can get saves consistently, but I think the Oilers are going to be a-okay. Even if they’re not a-okay, they’ve had awful starts each of the past two seasons and were more than fine. They went all the way to the Stanley Cup final. What guys like Matias Aholm and Conor McDavid have decided over the last couple days is the team that gives them the best opportunity to win the Stanley Cup this year, next year, and next is the Edmonton Oilers. And here’s the thing, they’re right. Will they be proven right is the question. What do you think of this deal? Leave a comment in the comment box down below. But for now, that is it for this one. Thank you very much for watching. Click like if you like this video. Click subscribe if you really liked it. Tell your friends Matias Heck remains an Edmonton Oiler.

Steve Dangle reacts to D Mattias Ekholm’s new three-year, $4M AAV contract extension with the Edmonton Oilers!

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43 comments

  5. would be hilarious if it's florida and edmonton in the next two years in the stanley cup finals and Panthers being the one team that stops mcdavid from a cup in Edmonton.

  12. Good job Conner, you've just lowered the pay scale throughout the league, must be nice to throw away 10 million, ask the oilers owner if he'll throw in 10 mill out of his own pocket, Not in a billion years.

  13. Trying to understand our friends north of the border on one subject. If I'm a Penguins fan, and if Washington, NY Rangers, NY Islanders, or Philadelphia is in the finals (LOL on Philly making it to the Finals), then I'm cheering for the other team. Does not matter if it's American or Canadian. Be it L.A., Calgary, Colorado, Vancouver, Dallas, or Edmonton… doesn't matter what country they are from. I'd be cheering for the West in that scenario.
    But I've watched Calgary Flames fans cheering for the Oilers in the final these last 2 years. When Montreal made it a few years back, I saw Leafs and Sens fans cheering for the Habs. I don't get it.

    Now in the Olympics, I get cheering for your country. But suddenly embracing a division rival that you've hated for years (decades) makes absolutely no sense to me.

  14. I can't imagine any of the oilers taking more money after the contract their leader signed. About time some players finally get it. Take a small contract, win a cup, sell a dump truck full of merch, profit.

  15. Time will tell how this all plays out. Doing all this and yet don't have a top quality and bad defense. A few players don't make a whole team, especially when you are eating up so much cap space to sign 6 of them. They have really 1 1/2 seasons. If they don't win the Cup this year and it's not looking good next year, they will trade McDavid before trade deadline to see what they can get for him.

  16. Saying the Oilers win the cup because Connor signed a good deal is like saying the Leafs would make the playoffs because Mats took a haircut.

  18. To put into perspective how BIG of an acquisition Ekholm was, from Bob Stauffer;

    Mattias Ekholm has played 165 regular season games with Edmonton since being acquired. He is +83(!!!!!) in that span, averaging 21m and 28s of ice time. Since being paired with Bouchard (which was almost immediate) they have the 2nd best xGF% (60.26) at 5v5 over the last 3 seasons (500+ minutes)

    Now, putting all of that aside, as an Oilers fan myself, Ekholm has been the PERFECT replacement for Klefbom. It was said, and I agree with this, that when Klefbom was healthy and playing, he allowed everyone else on the backend to slot into their correct spots, meaning no one was punching above their weight. But when he was injured, and sadly, forced to retirement due to his injuries, players like Darnell Nurse were punching above their weight, and it was costing Edmonton. Getting and then retaining Ekholm has allowed guys like Bouchard, Nurse, Stetcher, and Emberson to play in the lineup that allows them to succeed. Since coming over, Edmonton's record with Ekholm in the lineup is absolutely bananas. He's been a guy that was desperately needed.

  24. arguable the best defense in the NHL rn. led the league in fewest high danger chances last year. walman for a full season with young guys like regula pushing them. tidy work

  25. As a Oilers fan I am loving this players taking discounts all for a chance to win the Stanley Cup which is a high probability for a 2x stanley cup finalist team! Lets go Oilers bring that cup back to Canada!

  27. All I pray for is that the oilers meet the Avs in the c finals the next 3 seasons. Whatever happens happens. I’m an Avs fan, but I’m ok with only winning 2 cups over the next 3 so McD can get his. Or even visa versa. We can have one more so McD can get 2. I really do think we’re the two top teams in the league

  29. The Barkov injury and playoff cap rules make things interesting but there are too many question marks on this years Oilers roster.

  31. He’s done everything you can ask. His family loves the city and the winters here and was rewarded with a contract to possibly retire here. Solid win for Edmonton, and who knows maybe he will evolve into a coach here

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