OEL signed a one-year, $2.25 million deal with the Panthers last summer

It’s easy to see that Oliver Ekman-Larsson is enjoying his time with the Florida Panthers.

The 32-year-old is playing in his 14th season in the NHL, but this is his first in South Florida.

Ekman-Larsson spent the first 11 years of his career with the Arizona Coyotes, where he was constantly in the conversation with the top offensive-defensemen in the game.

After two injury-plagued seasons in Vancouver in which Ekman-Larsson was trying to recover from a pair of foot injuries, he was bought out of his contract and suddenly became a free agent.

Finally healthy and looking for a new home, Ekman-Larsson signed a one-year, $2.25 million deal with Florida last summer. It’s been a match made in heaven so far.

“All year I've been feeling good,” Ekman-Larsson said. “I think it helps when the team is playing good and winning, but obviously you get more comfortable the more you play and get to know the guys and the system and everything around here, so I think it's just gonna get better.”

It was no secret that the Panthers were going to be missing two key defensemen at the start of this season.

Ekman-Larsson was among several free agent blueliners who Florida signed during the offseason in order to mitigate the temporary losses of Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour.

Not only did OEL step up in a big way for the Cats, the left-shooting rearguard played on the right side and didn’t skip a beat.

“He started out on his off side for 16 games and played exceptionally well,” Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice said. “He had missed a bunch of hockey and in a lot of ways, he’d been off the ice for a long time, and he spent almost two years playing, but not playing healthy. Now we get this guy back and he is physical and he is aggressive and he's very, very smart. His decisions on when to get involved in the offense are just so good. So the veteran part, it's great. He fits into the room, (we have a) fairly veteran blue line. We've been able to move him around which has allowed our hockey team not to see a big drop off when we two very important pieces out of our lineup.”

During those early games, Maurice deployed Ekman-Larsson on Florida’s top defensive pairing and power play.

He skated alongside Gus Forsling and despite having never played together before, the two combined to make a smart, formidable duo.

“He's a guy that I watched a lot in the NHL before I came over here,” Forsling said of OEL. “He's such a good guy off the ice, too, so it's been unreal to get to know him.”

Learning new systems can be a tricky endeavor for any hockey player, but when the systems are defense-first, and you’re a defenseman, there can be some added pressure and emphasis on getting things right.

Fortunately for Ekman-Larsson, he was targeted by Panthers General Manager Bill Zito precisely for his skillset and how it could fit with what Florida tries to do systematically.

“I think right away I felt the system was fitting in my game,” said Ekman-Larsson. “Playing with Forsy (Gus Forsling) early on, I think helped me a lot to get going, and then Kuli (Dmitry Kulikov) and I have been a pair here since Monty (Brandon Montour) and Ekie (Aaron Ekblad) got back, so I think we have been playing some good hockey as well.”

Indeed, when at full strength, the Panthers boast one of the deepest defensive corps in the league.

Ekman-Larsson has already proven that he can play top pairing minutes and run a number one power play.

Having that kind of depth on the back line will only help a Panthers squad that came within three wins of a Stanley Cup last June.

“I knew he was a heck of a player, and I was excited to have him on our team,” Montour said. “He's a really, really good defensive player for us, he plays hard, and obviously he's putting the puck in the net, so we need that to keep going.”

Through his first 51 games in a Florida sweater, Ekman-Larsson has logged nine goals and 25 points while boasting the best even-strength advanced metrics of his career.

Combine that with how well he’s been received in the Panthers dressing room and you have the latest in a growing collection of home runs hit by Zito and his front office staff.

“I think right away you could feel how tight they were,” Ekman-Larsson said of his Panthers teammates. “I think that helps for a new guy coming in too, they're trying to get you in involved in the group and make you feel comfortable and at home here, so that was the least I was worried about when I got here. I’ve said it so many times since I got here, I think the guys are great and the room is great. I think coaching stuff and organization overall is just first class.”

The player is happy and thriving, as is the team.

Which begs the questions of what comes next?

OEL will be an unrestricted free agent at season’s end.

He’s quite happy living in South Florida, setting into a nice Fort Lauderdale neighborhood with his fiancé that’s just minutes from the Panthers brand new practice facility.

Should the Panthers want to run it back with Ekman-Larson, it seems to make sense that he’d want to continue his career with the Cats.

“I think I'm at that point in my career that you just go for the Cup. That's why I picked Florida and I thought it was a good fit,” he said. “I think we can do something special here, obviously with the run that they had last year and still some improvement that can be done. I’m just trying to stay in the moment and try to play to the best I can every day, and try to get better.

“Time will tell. I mean, I know everybody says that, but I'm trying to take one day at a time and see what happens. I'm super happy here, my family's happy here, so it's a great place to be.”

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