Ekman-Larsson signs with Florida for way less money than Canucks were paying him
Getting cut loose by the Vancouver Canucks didn’t appear to leave Oliver Ekman-Larsson out of an NHL job for too long.
As per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman, Ekman-Larsson is “trending” towards a signing with the Florida Panthers.
It’s looking like it’ll to be a much lighter payday than the one he got in Vancouver, with Friedman adding he’ll be making just $2.25 million next season on a one-year deal.
1x$2.25M
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) July 1, 2023
Ekman-Larsson had seven goals and 44 assists 133 games for Vancouver over the last two seasons, averaging 21:27 a night.
Vancouver opted to buy him out earlier this offseason for the remainder of his contract.
After coming over in a high-profile trade from the Arizona Coyotes prior to the 2021 season, the 31-year-old defenceman was clearly a step behind his best days. Vancouver acquired Ekman-Larsson and Conor Garland in exchange for a trio of veteran deals: Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, and Antoine Roussel, all of which have now expired.
The buyout will save the Canucks more than $7 million in salary cap space next season but will cost them in the years to come.
Ekman-Larsson was scheduled to count $7.26 million against the Canucks’ salary cap in each of the next four seasons. Instead, the team will spread the pain until 2030-31.
The veteran defenceman’s cap hit drops to $146,667 next season for the Canucks, but will rise to over $2.3 million in 2024-25. He’ll count over $4.7 million against the Canucks’ cap in 2025-26 and 2026-27, and then over $2.1 million from 2027-28 to 2030-31.
“He had a tough summer,” Canucks GM Patrik Allvin said at the team’s end-of-season media availability at Rogers Arena. “I thought he was very inconsistent. I do believe that Oliver, with the right mindset, and the conversations we have had here over the last couple of months, that he’s willing to sacrifice to get his game back. I think that Oliver has potential to still be a good NHL player.”
The Arizona Coyotes will also be penalized for the buyout too, given they retained $990,000 of Ekman-Larsson’s contract in the 2021 trade involving him, though to a much lesser extent. The worst they’ll be dinged is $650,000 in 2025-26 and 2026-27.
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