Ekman-Larsson puts deadline on Coyotes to complete a trade, per Darren Dreger
The Oliver Ekman-Larsson saga has been among the most noteworthy stories in the NHL during this offseason, but one way or another, it appears as though we will know what the future has in store for OEL by Friday.
As reported by TSN's Darren Dreger on Tuesday, the captain has sent a very clear message to the Coyotes organization when he - through his agent, Kevin Epp - placed a Friday deadline on his willingness to accept a trade to either Boston or Vancouver, meaning that if Yotes GM Bill Armstrong is unable to come to terms on a deal with one of these two teams, OEL is staying put in Arizona.
Gutsy play by the Ekman-Larsson camp here, but it's hard to blame a player in OEL's position for wanting to have some clarity on where he will be next season and not have this situation drag on. He has played just one season of his new contract, which he signed to remain in Arizona, with whom he has played his entire career, only to have management pressure him to relocate, despite having a full no-movement clause.
OEL is slated to earn $8.25M AAV over the next seven seasons and has refused to expand his list of preferred destinations beyond just Boston and Vancouver. With Bruins GM Don Sweeney believed to have already tabled his final offer to Armstrong, it looks as though the Coyotes' new GM is running out of options.
An OEL deal is not a foregone conclusion if the Yotes are not getting fair value for the 29-year-old. There are still other ways for Arizona to shed enough salary to comply with ownership demans of an internal cap of a little over $70M without having to trade the team's largest contract. But it's a hell of a lot easier to meet the owners' demands by shipping out one massive contract, rather than to move several other players around to make the pieces fit.
The clock is now ticking for the Yotes to get a deal done, and, thankfully, we don't have to wait long for the conclusion.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Nathan MacKinnon | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Martin Necas | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Conor Garland | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Kyle Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Filip Chytil | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Cale Makar | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mason Appleton | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Thomas Chabot | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Warren Foegele | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Nils Hoglander | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jack Hughes | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Adrian Kempe | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Artturi Lehkonen | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Casey Mittelstadt | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Logan O'Connor | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Cole Perfetti | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Mark Scheifele | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Quinton Byfield | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ross Colton | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Dylan DeMelo | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 59 | 42 | 14 | 3 | 87 | |
Capitals | 58 | 38 | 12 | 8 | 84 | |
Stars | 58 | 37 | 19 | 2 | 76 | |
Maple Leafs | 58 | 36 | 20 | 2 | 74 | |
Golden Knights | 58 | 34 | 18 | 6 | 74 | |
Panthers | 59 | 35 | 21 | 3 | 73 | |
Oilers | 58 | 34 | 20 | 4 | 72 | |
Wild | 58 | 34 | 20 | 4 | 72 | |
Kings | 56 | 31 | 17 | 8 | 70 | |
Lightning | 57 | 33 | 20 | 4 | 70 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||