Nashville Predators lock up Mattias Ekholm for six years, $22.5M
The Nashville Predators locked up another one of their young defenseman to a long-term contract.
The team announced it signed 25-year-old blueliner Mattias Ekholm to a six-year $22.5 million contract extension. Ekholm was slated to be a restricted free agent this coming offseason. That’s a salary cap hit of $3.75 million per-year.
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Ekholm has a goal and two assists this season. A year ago he notched 18 points in 80 games played. But there’s more to his game that would merit such a deal explains the Predators in an online release:
The coming-out party for Ekholm in 2014-15 was documented by more than just the eye test, with the blueliner ranking among the NHL’s best in advanced statistics. Nashville’s second of three fourth-round selections in 2009 (forward Craig Smith was taken four picks before him) produced the League’s fifth-best SAT (282; Shot Attempts) for defenseman and was No. 1 among Nashville’s blueliners last season according to NHL.com. In short, Ekholm’s contributions help to heavily tilt play in Nashville’s favor with the Predators five-man unit outshooting the opposition by a wide margin when the Swede is on the ice. With Laviolette’s method of attack demanding high shot attempt totals from forwards and defensemen alike, a blueliner like Ekholm who can deliver results on both sides of the puck is extremely important.
Early in the 2011-12 season after a loss at the Vancouver Canucks in Ekholm’s second NHL game, then-coach Barry Trotz called Ekholm’s play “horrible.
He also said of Ekholm, “You’re going to have to line up against the best in the league. If you’re scared of that, get a dog.”
Ekholm went back to Sweden and honed his game for a year and then was assigned to the American Hockey League the following season. When he returned full-time to the NHL in 2013-14 he was a more polished product.
The Predators now have most of their core defensemen, Shea Weber, Ryan Ellis, Roman Josi and now Ekholm, locked into deals through the next several years. Ellis’ contract is the shortest, which runs through 2018-19. All (except Weber’s, which was an offer sheet he signed with the Philadelphia Flyers that Nashville matched) are for $4 million or less. All are age 30 or younger.
Seth Jones is in the final season of his entry-level contract and should get a hefty raise from the $925,000 his per-year average.
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Josh Cooper is an editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @joshuacooper
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