Edmonton Oilers defenseman Mattias Ekholm of Borlange, Sweden will be out for the first round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Oilers face the Los Angeles Kings. Ekholm has an undisclosed injury. We do not know the specific time that Ekholm was injured. What we do know is that Ekholm was dealing with an illness for a significant part of the season, and a subsequent injury has prevented his ability to skate at a high level. Ekholm recently tried to return to the Oilers lineup on Friday in a 4-2 Edmonton win over the San Jose Sharks. However, he fell twice in three shifts, and only saw one minute and 52 seconds worth of ice time before returning to the Oilers dressing room.
Ekholm in 2024-25
This past season, Ekholm has nine goals and 24 assists for 33 points in 65 games. He is a +11 with 30 penalty minutes, seven power-play points, one game-winning goal, 143 shots on goal, 95 blocked shots, 42 hits, 35 takeaways and 83 giveaways.
Ekholm’s game-winning goal came on December 19 in a 3-2 Oilers win over the Boston Bruins. He scored from Ryan Nugent-Hopkins of Burnaby, British Columbia and Leon Draisaitl of Cologne, Germany at 1:04 of the extra period.
Significant loss for the Oilers franchise
While we all know how valuable Connor McDavid and Draisaitl are to the Oilers offense, you could make the argument that Ekholm is even more valuable to the Oilers défense, which is not the identity of the franchise. Since arriving to Edmonton, Ekholm has been an amazing blueliner. The most telling statistic is his plus/minus, which has been a +83 since joining the Oilers from the Nashville Predators in 2022-23.
The Oilers might also be without defenseman Darnell Nurse for a couple of games in the playoffs. Nurse could face a suspension for cross-checking Kings forward Quinton Byfield in the face on Monday night.
