Photo credit: Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images
While Oliver Ekman-Larsson puts in a vintage season in 2025-26, it turns out that not only is he on fire in Toronto, but also getting paid by a trio of teams too.
Not only does he already have more points in 48 games than he had in 77 contests last year, and is on pace to have the highest point total of his career since 2018-19 and Toronto would be in a much worse spot without him.
He’s currently signed for two more seasons after this current one, and if he can keep pace with what he’s done so far in Toronto, it could turn out to be a bargain though surprisingly he’s not the only one paying him this year.
Money is the name of the game for Oliver Ekman-Larsson
As it turns out, there are a total of three teams inflating Ekman-Larsson’s bank account because in addition to the Maple Leafs, the Vancouver Canucks and Utah Mammoth are also paying out:
Both the other teams are paying Ekman-Larsson due to contract buyouts, and they will have him on their books until 2029-2030.
It’s also not like he’s getting a small amount of money either. Although Utah’s buyout hit isn’t so terrible at $650,000 which will decrease to only $290,000 starting in 2027-28.
But Vancouver is going to continue paying him $4.76-million for this season and the next, before still needing to pay $2.1-million until that buyout ends.
To put that into perspective, he’ll make more from not playing in Vancouver than he does in Toronto which has to be one of the more rare situations in all of hockey.
Toronto doesn’t care who pays him as long as he keeps up his pace
The Canucks signed him to a staggering eight-year, $66-million deal in 2019 but he was bought out only two seasons into the deal after injury concerns and a bit of a downturn offensively.
But what a difference a couple years can make. Since a rebound year with Florida where he won a Cup, signing in Toronto as part of their new identity had a lot of cautious excitement given how good he was up until then.
Though he was older and had injuries, Toronto trusted the veteran to stabilize their back end and it’s worked out in spades.
In 125 games for the Leafs, OEL has 60 points (12 goals, 48 assists) with a plus-22, 123 blocks and 170 hits in 20:55 TOI.
He’s crushing it offensively, his defensive game hasn’t slipped and frankly he brings an edge and attitude that the Maple Leafs tend to lack at times.
So even if Ekman-Larsson wasn’t putting in a vintage performance this season, it’s going to be just perfectly fine by him because he knows no matter what happens, he’ll get paid — and handsomely at that.
Previously on Hockey Patrol