Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s resurgence has been so valuable for the Florida Panthers

George Richards of Florida Hockey Now joined Daily Faceoff Live to discuss the Florida Panthers’ success and how veteran defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s resurgence has been valuable to the club.

Ekman-Larsson has been nominated for the Bill Masteron Trophy for the 2023-24 campaign.

Tyler Yaremchuk: I wanted to ask you about Oliver Ekman-Larsson, he was nominated for the Bill Masterton Trophy and I mean it’s a great story off the ice because he’s a guy coming out of a buyout and re-establishing himself in the NHL. But this Panthers team that has dealt with so many blows to their blueline how important has Ekman-Larsson been to their success?

George Richards: He was a terrific signing. I think when we saw him get bought out by Vancouver and we knew Florida would be without Aaron Ekblad and Brandon Montour to start the season it seemed like a perfect fit and bam the Panthers signed him. Ever since training camp and we first got introduced to him he didn’t really want to talk about the buyout, he had been injured in Vancouver, including last season where he started the season with a foot injury and then reaggravated it later on.

George Richards: He just wanted a fresh start and wanted to do it with the Panthers and he started on that top pairing with Forsling and when Ekblad came back into the lineup he moved down. That’s one thing Maurice talked about, when he did move him down there were reduced minutes but it didn’t slow down his bite. The bite to his game has been fantastic and ongoing and he hasn’t slowed down. Now that Ekblad is out again, he bumps up into that top slot.