Veteran blueliner led all Panthers in ice time in 2-0 loss in Minnesota
Apparently, there is still life left in Oliver Ekman-Larsson. Bought out by the Vancouver Canucks in June, the veteran defenseman logged a game high 26:32 in his Florida Panthers debut in Thursday's 2-0 loss in Minnesota.
That included 9:40 of the third period with the Panthers trailing and pushing to get back in the hockey game. Ekman-Larsson played 19:00 at even strength, 4:36 on the power play and 2:56 while short-handed.
In addition to his lofty ice-time totals, OEL had four shots on goal on 10 attempts.
The 26:32 of ice time is, in part, due to the fact the Panthers opened the season without both Brandon Montour and Aaron Ekblad. Still, it's interesting to note that Ekman-Larsson played more in his first game with Florida than in all but one game for the Canucks last season. He logged 27:47 in Seattle last October. And in his two seasons in Vancouver, Ekman-Larsson eclipsed the 26:32 mark on just three occasions -- and one of those games required overtime.
It will be interesting to see if Ekman-Larsson continues to log top pairing minutes and how he handles the workload. His foot speed had been an issue in a league getting faster by the year. Thursday was his first NHL regular season game since his season -- and his time with the Canucks -- ended in mid-Feburary due to an ankle injury.
The 32-year-old signed a one-year $2.25M contract with Florida on July 1st after having the remaining four years and $19.3M of his contract with the Canucks bought out in June. He will remain on the Canucks books and will impact the team's salary cap through the 2030-31 season.
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