{"id":185034,"date":"2025-09-08T16:47:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T16:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/185034\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T16:47:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T16:47:10","slug":"mattias-ekholm-opens-up-as-he-enters-contract-year-with-oilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/185034\/","title":{"rendered":"Mattias Ekholm opens up as he enters contract year with Oilers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mattias Ekholm opens up as he enters contract year with Oilers<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a><\/p>\n

Mattias Ekholm’s arrival in 2022-23 changed everything for the Edmonton Oilers.<\/p>\n

The first seven years of the Connor McDavid era in Edmonton resulted in just three playoff series wins. The three years to follow with Ekholm in the fold: seven series wins and two Stanley Cup Finals appearances.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

It should come as no surprise to see the success the team has had in the two-and-a-quarter seasons since acquiring the veteran blueliner from Nashville. He’s been the perfect complement to star defenseman Evan Bouchard and has displayed offensive abilities that many weren’t expecting.<\/p>\n

Given all of that, you would think locking him up to an extension is a no-brainer for the Oilers; however, it’s not that easy. Ekholm isn’t getting any younger and struggled with injuries last season, which clouds the situation as he enters a contract year.<\/p>\n

With training camps approaching, he recently spoke to Jim Matheson of the Edmonton Journal<\/a> about his future and desire to remain an Oiler.<\/p>\n

“It’s a contract year, but I’m also getting up there in age. I know what I bring on the ice, but I also have a family, and I want to make sure we have security. Do I want to stay in Edmonton? Absolutely. I guess there will be discussions, but you’re going to be talking to a guy in a few minutes who’s the big focus. I’ve been around long enough in this league to know you take care of the big boys first,” Ekholm said.<\/p>\n

The 35-year-old is heading into the final season of the four-year, $25 million contract he originally signed with the Predators back in 2021.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Ekholm is back to full health<\/p>\n

After an injury-plagued 2024-25 campaign that forced him to miss a large chunk of the postseason, Mattias Ekholm is healthy heading into a pivotal year.<\/p>\n

He tore his adductor late last season and attempted to play through the ailment in the finals, which was no easy task. Following a summer of rest and recovery, he revealed how he’s feeling now in the conversation with Matheson.<\/p>\n

“Now, I’m excited (healthy again). If I lose the puck, at least I know I can get it back,” Ekholm said.<\/p>\n

There is a lot of noise and uncertainty around the Edmonton Oilers right now, but one thing that is certain is the importance of having a healthy Mattias Ekholm in 2025-26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mattias Ekholm opens up as he enters contract year with Oilers originally appeared on The Sporting News Mattias…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5125],"tags":[155,198,23660,146,5300,425,5,24095,868,2409,4,24],"class_list":{"0":"post-185034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-edmonton-oilers","8":"tag-connor-mcdavid","9":"tag-edmonton","10":"tag-edmonton-journal","11":"tag-edmonton-oilers","12":"tag-edmontonoilers","13":"tag-evan-bouchard","14":"tag-hockey","15":"tag-jim-matheson","16":"tag-mattias-ekholm","17":"tag-nashville","18":"tag-nhl","19":"tag-oilers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115169699027212702","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}