What’s in store for Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s second year with the Canucks?

It has just been over a year since the Vancouver Canucks acquired Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for Jay Beagle, Antoine Roussel, Loui Eriksson and a bunch of draft picks.

Canucks fans were divided by the trade and many still criticize it to this day. One of the draft picks given away was the ninth overall pick which the Coyotes used to select Dylan Guenther who had 91 points in 59 games with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings last season. That’s one reason why the trade isn’t liked by a large portion of the Canucks fanbase.

The other is the acquisition of Ekman-Larsson and his massive contract. The Coyotes managed to retain 12% of his 8.25 million dollar cap hit but the Canucks are still paying him 7.26 million per season. Ekman-Larsson was 30 at the time of the trade and that is the age when many NHL players start to decline.

It was clear that the decline was starting for Ekman-Larsson. It looked like his career peaked in the 2015-16 season when he put up 55 points in 75 games. OEL’s last two seasons in Arizona were not good and he has suffered numerous injuries.

The Canucks were taking a massive risk and let’s look back at Ekman-Larsson’s first year in Vancouver and look ahead to his second.

Ekman-Larsson’s first year with the Canucks

Ekman-Larsson was acquired to put up points. He scored five goals and managed 24 assists for 29 points in 79 games. It didn’t take long for OEL to score his first as a Canuck as he did in Vancouver’s first game of the season.

But due to Quinn Hughes getting more minutes on the first pair and first power play unit, Ekman-Larsson was playing more of a shutdown role.

For the most part, Ekman-Larsson looked fine defensively.

He was doing a good job of taking the puck away from the opposing players and knocking them off the puck while they were on the rush.

Overall, despite the lack of offence, it’s fair to say it was a good first season in Vancouver for OEL.

What to expect in Ekman-Larsson’s second year with the Canucks?

As good as Ekman-Larsson was defensively last season, there is no guarantee that his play is sustainable especially since he is a year older.

OEL is likely going to be in the shutdown role once again. Who will he be paired with? Well, if there aren’t any changes to the defence this offseason, it looks like Hughes will stick around with Luke Schenn on the top pair so one option for OEL is Tyler Myers. Last season they were paired together often and both of them had their ups and downs together.

There is also Travis Dermott. He played 17 games with the Canucks last season after coming over from the Toronto Maple Leafs. Dermott looked fine with the Canucks but he never played with Ekman-Larsson.

Since Ekman-Larsson is going to be in a shutdown role, you could say it would be better to put him with Myers because the latter can actually provide some offence.

Regardless of whoever his partner is, Ekman-Larsson will be once again back in a defensive role. I’m just not sure if he can maintain his defensive play from last season. In the later stages of last season, he was making some poor defensive mistakes.

I’m expecting more of the same from last season from OEL next season. I would like to see more offence but if he can’t keep up the defensive game, that would be great. If I had to predict the point totals I’m going with four goals and 18 assists for 22 points.