By Jordan Long
The Nashville Predators start their season tonight against the Seattle Kraken. They agreed to a contract extension with defenseman Mattias Ekholm. He was in the last year of his current deal.
Ekholm is entering his 11th year in the NHL. He has only played for Nashville, becoming one of their best scoring defensemen. He can shoot the puck from the point or find his teammates for them to put it in the back of the net. Ekholm totaled 51 goals and 168 assists for a total of 219 points in his career.
On the power play, Ekholm plays the point. He sets up the play for Nashville. That allows him to use his vision on the ice to not only fire the puck on the net but pass the puck for scoring chances. In his career, Ekholm has 9 power play goals and 28 assists.
Ekholm is also important on defense. His size at 6 foot 4 inches allows him to check an opponent off the puck to end scoring chances. He can also poke check the puck when a skater skates into the defensive zone to take the puck away. Ekholm will also use his body to block a shot ending a threat for the opponents to have a chance to score.
Nashville knows what Ekholm brings to the team. They could have taken the risk of letting him play out the final season of his contract. If they had done that, there is no guarantee Ekholm would have been back with Nashville. Another franchise could have offered a deal he couldn’t refuse. Nashville decided to agree to a four-year, $25 million contract with Ekholm that will pay him $6.25 million starting next year.
Ekholm is glad that he is staying put. According to ESPN.com, he said “I know it’s a lot with being a dad of two kids and having a family and trying to help run that, and then try to focus on the ice and have this. It’s a lot. So it was good that we were able to get it done … because even if we wouldn’t have and wouldn’t talk and focus too much on it, it was always going to be there in the back of your head. It was a relief to get it done for sure, and we’re really excited with the way it turned out.”
Now that Ekholm is staying put, he can focus on helping Nashville win the cup this year and during his extension. Nashville has never won the Cup but has advanced to one Stanley Cup Final, 2017. They were defeated by the Pittsburgh Penguins in 6 games. The goal is for Ekholm to be the defensive leader to help them capture the Cup.
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