Florida signed Ekman-Larsson to a one-year, $2.25 million contract on Saturday
It didn’t take the Florida Panthers long to get started when free agency opened on Saturday.
Florida was quite active over the course of the day, adding several free agents that fit a varying assortment of needs.
One idea leading up to July 1 that gained a bit of traction was that the Panthers were in the market for a puck-moving defenseman with some offensive skills.
That was quickly confirmed when Florida came to terms on a one-year, $2.25 million deal with veteran blueliner Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
Once one of the top offensive defensemen in the league, Eckman-Larsson struggled through an injury-plagued second season in Vancouver last year.
Now healthy, he’s taking a one-year deal with the Panthers and looking to bounce back.
A few hours after signing Eckman-Larsson, Florida General Manager Bill Zito spoke about the move.
“We're thrilled to have to have Oliver on board,” Zito said. “He's a guy who we talked…actually, during the last season, maybe even before last season, and then recently even at the draft, about…we're in a cap crunch, we're in a tough spot, and we need to get value players and players who are willing to come in here and utilize the opportunity in our team as a springboard for themselves, so we have a lot of these one-year deals, low cost, low money.”
(On negotiations with Ekman-Larsson)
“It was a wonderful interaction when I spoke to him, because I was sort of selling him Las Olas and Fort Lauderdale and all this, and he said, ‘I don't care, I want to win. Yeah, it's great, I’ve been there. What about the hockey?’ and he was all in. He wasn’t rude, don’t misjudge my tone, but he made it very, very clear that he wanted to come to a place that had the opportunity for him to do his thing and at same time be around a group of people that want to win and that care. It was great.”
(How Ekman-Larsson is feeling after ending last season on LTIR due to an ankle injury)
“Fine. There were no issues.”
(On Ekman-Larsson being a good fit on the power play)
"Yeah, it's great, and that's one of the reasons that we ID’ed him. Do I think that he can run our power play? I do. We'll see, but it makes sense. But at the same time, I don't know, maybe someone else comes in. It's a meritocracy and nobody's going to get penciled in…I guess Chucky (Matthew Tkachuk) probably and Sasha (Barkov), but you know what I'm saying. It's a good fit. His skill set meshes with exactly what we need short term, but there's also long term. He's a leader. He's a good person, from the background that we've done. We had the good fortune of getting Patric Hornqvist, who has some pretty good intel on people, and we're just really excited that Oliver chose us.”