Ekman-Larsson's agent slams Vancouver media after his client traded to the Canucks
If Oliver Ekman-Larsson's agent was hoping to endear his client to members of the Vancouver Media, he's not off to a great start. As you'll likely recall, Ekman-Larsson was traded to the Canucks this weekend, along with Conor Garland, with Jay Beagle, Loui Eriksson, Antoine Roussel and picks going back to the Arizona Coyotes. The Yotes agreed to retain 12 percent of Ekman-Larsson's hefty salary, which carries an annual cap hit of $8.25 million for the next six seasons.
Garland was the key piece in this trade for Vancouver, but that didn't stop analysts from criticizing Canucks GM Jim Benning for agreeing to take on OEL's anchor of a contract. Ekman-Larsson is not the defenceman he once was, something he himself has admitted, recently hinting that he needs to get back some of his competitive spirit. In response to that criticism, his agent, Kevin Epp, blasted the Vancouver media.
"Vancouver is a tough market media and fans wise, so driven by negative media, so unfair," Epp told Canucks insider Rick Dhailiwal. "They are already all over OEL. It's why some free agents stay away from Vancouver, the media scrutiny."
Simply put, Ekman-Larsson will face far more scrutiny in any Canadian market than he did in Arizona. There are several American markets where he would receive more scrutiny as well. Some of that criticism is also deserved. The Twitter account JFresh Hockey, which runs analytics on players, called OEL's contract one of the worst in the NHL.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Ryan McLeod | 3 | - | 3 | |
| Connor McDavid | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Matthew Boldy | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Ryan Nugent-Hopkins | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Brent Burns | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Mats Zuccarello | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Jason Zucker | - | 2 | 2 | |
| Dylan Cozens | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Ryan Hartman | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Zach Hyman | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Martin Necas | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Vasily Podkolzin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Marco Rossi | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Jaccob Slavin | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Viktor Arvidsson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Evan Bouchard | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Josh Brown | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Connor Clifton | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Leon Draisaitl | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Ty Emberson | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Capitals | 44 | 29 | 10 | 5 | 63 | |
Jets | 45 | 30 | 12 | 3 | 63 | |
Golden Knights | 44 | 29 | 12 | 3 | 61 | |
Oilers | 44 | 28 | 13 | 3 | 59 | |
Wild | 45 | 27 | 14 | 4 | 58 | |
Stars | 43 | 28 | 14 | 1 | 57 | |
Devils | 46 | 26 | 15 | 5 | 57 | |
Maple Leafs | 45 | 27 | 16 | 2 | 56 | |
Avalanche | 45 | 27 | 17 | 1 | 55 | |
Hurricanes | 45 | 26 | 16 | 3 | 55 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||