With the Olympics officially over and the NHL Trade Deadline quickly closing in, rumours are starting to swirl and one of them involves Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson. According to Frank Seravalli of The Daily Faceoff, the Edmonton Oilers are a team that have interest in trading for blue-liner OEL.
Ekman-Larsson is in the second year of a four-year, $14M contract he signed with the Maple Leafs. With things not going Toronto's way this year and the deadline inching closer, it's looking more and more likely that the Maple Leafs shift to sellers at this years deadline. OEL is someone, along with guys like Bobby McMann, Scott Laughton, and Brandon Carlo, among others, that could fetch the club a pretty decent return should they choose to ship away assets and focus on the future.
Edmonton Oilers eyeing Leafs' Oliver Ekman-Larsson to help defense
Despite the team's struggles this season, Ekman-Larsson has played well individually and would be a big boost to any team that should trade for him. Looking at Edmonton specifically -- they have struggled mightily to keep the puck out of their net since the Stuart Skinner / Tristan Jarry goalie swap and if they are indeed interested in bringing Larsson in, it would appear they are attemping to beef up their back end with some grit and experience.
From a Maple Leafs perspective, trading away Ekman-Larsson probably makes sense. The team is almost certaintly not competing this season and OEL will be 35-years-old in July. He's more than likely not in the plans for the future, so if you can get something semi-decent for him at the deadline, you do it if you're Brad Treliving.
One hurdle the Oilers would have to jump before pulling the trigger on any deal involving OEL; trading away Andrew Mangiapane. Both Seravalli and Elliotte Freidman noted that Edmonton would have to clear cap space by trading Mangiapane away in order to acquire Larsson and his $3.5M AAV cap hit.