Ekman-Larsson still has ‘that drive’ entering 1,000th NHL game with Maple Leafs

TORONTO -- Oliver Ekman-Larsson won the Stanley Cup last season as an integral member of the Florida Panthers. It led him to signing a four-year contract ($3.5 million average annual value) with the Toronto Maple Leafs in the offseason as an unrestricted free agent.

For the 33-year-old defenseman now in his 15th season, that success has not yet led him to a place where he is content with what he has accomplished.

“I think it’s the opposite,” Ekman-Larsson told NHL.com. “I feel like you win and then you get the summer, and you realize how much fun it is to win, how much fun it is to battle with the guys in the room and it gives you a purpose.

“It’s not like you didn’t have a purpose before; you’ve always said you wanted to win, but you never know if you are going to get that chance. But you work hard enough, you have a purpose every single day, it’s going to be a good chance you stand there one day, and I feel like I want to do that again. I want to have that feeling again.”

Ekman-Larsson is preparing for another milestone Wednesday -- his 1,000th NHL game -- when the Maple Leafs face the Washington Capitals at Capital One Arena in Washington (7:30 p.m. ET; MNMT, SN, TVAS).

“It doesn’t feel like I’ve been around for that long,” Ekman-Larsson said. “You dream about playing one game in this league, and here I am 15 years later. You feel very fortunate that you’ve got a chance to play for a long time. It’s not easy to stick in this league, so it’s a lot of work that goes into it. You have to approach it like finding a way to get better each day, work on your game every single day and have that drive where you want to get better, because that’s how you have a long career.”

Through 17 games, Ekman-Larsson, who has 477 points (145 goals, 332 assists) during his NHL career, is thriving with the Maple Leafs, helping to solidify their blueline as part of a defense pair with Morgan Rielly.

“He’s been great,” Rielly said. “He’s kind of fit right in and played extremely well. Being his partner the last little while, I think it’s been good. We knew he had some (physicality) to his game, but I think we were surprised by it a little bit. He’s been extremely good defensively and has a great stick.”

His minutes are up from an average of 18:24 in 80 regular-season games with Florida last season to 21:08 with Toronto. As a team, the Maple Leafs have allowed the sixth-fewest goals per game at 2.59.

“That’s why I wanted to come here, because I think we have a great opportunity to do something special,” Ekman-Larsson said. “We have a lot of special players who have the talent and the skill. We just have to get everybody on the same page. When you get a taste of (winning the Cup), you want to have that taste again.”

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Hockey came easy to Ekman-Larsson at a young age. At just 17, the Karlskrona, Sweden native had 17 points (three goals, 14 assists) in 39 games with Leksands IF in the Swedish 1st Division.

“When we played together, he was just a puppy coming up right,” goalie Eddie Lack, who spent the 2008-09 season as a teammate of Ekman-Larsson with Leksands, told NHL.com. “You don’t really expect anything from him, just expect him to be around and learn and by the end of that season, he was playing like 30 minutes a game. It was nuts. Nobody had really seen anything like that before. To see the poise he had with the puck, you knew he was going to be a really good player.”

The Phoenix Coyotes selected Ekman-Larsson with the No. 6 pick at the 2009 NHL Draft. After one more season with Leksands, he arrived in Arizona in 2010, much to the dismay of another, at the time, young Coyotes defenseman Keith Yandle.

“When you’re a young defenseman and you see another young skilled defenseman get drafted, you’re like, ‘Ah man, this guy is here to take my job,’ and I remember my first time seeing him on the ice, I was like, ‘Yeah, this kid is definitely going to take my job,’” Yandle jokingly told NHL.com.

Ekman-Larsson had 11 points (one goal, 10 assists) in 48 games in his rookie season of 2010-11, then jumped to 32 points (13 goals, 19 assists) the following season.

Like Yandle, Dave Tippett, who coached Ekman-Larsson for his first seven NHL seasons, was immediately impressed.

“Before you even knew him, when you watched him play, out skating with the guys early before camp, you could just see he was at another level,” Tippett said.

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Offensively, few defensemen were as proficient as Ekman-Larsson. From 2013-19, he reached double digits in goals each season. During that six-season span, he totaled 99, second only among defensemen to Brent Burns, who had 123. In 2014-15, he led all defenseman with 23 before finishing tied for second the next season with 21.

“He was just so smooth on the ice, silky with the puck, made really good passes,” Yandle said. “When me and him got put together on the power play, it was a pretty lethal combination. He had over 15 goals that year and then over 20 the next two years, which was kind of before the time defensemen were scoring that many goals.”

The knock against him was always, ‘Was he good enough defensively?’ Tippett did not feel Ekman-Larsson got the credit he deserved.

“He was like all young Swedes coming over, they defend with position, defend with their sticks,” Tippett said. “Nick Lidstrom was one of the greatest defenders in the history of the game and there wasn’t much physical in his game, but he defended very well. I’m not saying Oliver is Nick Lidstrom, but that’s how he played.

“But he’s kind of evolved now where he is more of a physical player than when he was young. He’s a smart player, good positional player, really good stick.”

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That element of physicality has become more apparent and consistent this season with the Maple Leafs, though former teammates say that area of his game has always been underappreciated.

“I remember him being super feisty early in our careers, he’d be slashing guys in the back of the legs, and that was back in the day when other team’s fourth lines, two of the three guys were killers,” Yandle said. “He was always out there sticking his nose in it and not shying away.”

Lack added, “He acts like this nice guy, soft Swede, but there’s definitely more to him when you watch him play.”

Ekman-Larsson sits tied for 20th among NHL defensemen in hits with 29 this season, a welcomed trait the Maple Leafs were searching for in the offseason.

“I think he’s getting to be a grumpy old man,” Tippett quipped.

Toronto defenseman Jake McCabe said he was not expecting Ekman-Larsson to be as physical as he has shown.

“Someone as talented as Ollie, running power plays throughout his career, that kind of stuff runs under the radar a bit, but between his stick and his positioning out there, there’s not a better defenseman honestly so it’s been great for our group, and winning the Stanley Cup last year and having that experience is always positive for our group,” McCabe said.

Whether it has been increasing his physicality, running the power play, or killing penalties, Ekman-Larsson, who is third among Maple Leafs defensemen in total time on ice at 359:10, has had a positive impact in every facet of the game.

He credits his desire to continually work on his game for his longevity, even as he enters his 1,000th game.

“I feel like I’ve been improving every year,” he said. “Sometimes it’s just small things, but small things in this sport is a big thing. You pick up on some stuff where you know it’s going to be important and that you can be a step ahead of people. Just finding the middle of the ice in the D-zone, having a good stick, those kind of details help you a lot as a defenseman so you don’t get beat to the net and prevent guys from making inside plays.

“I love watching video and skating in the summer, I love working on those details. If you don’t want to get better every year, then you are probably on your way out.”