Edmonton Oilers defenceman Mattias Ekholm is a game-time decision Wednesday night, head coach Kris Knoblauch said.
Ekholm wasn’t out for the morning skate with the rest of the team, as Brett Kulak slid into his spot flanking Evan Bouchard. Darnell Nurse was paired with Troy Stecher, while Josh Brown and Ty Emberson skated on the third pairing.
The @EdmontonOilers in St. Paul:
RNH-McDavid-Hyman
Podkolzin-Draisaitl-Arvidsson
Janmark-Henrique-C. Brown
Perry-Philp-Kapanen
J. Skinner-Ryan
Nurse-Stecher
Kulak-Bouchard
J. Brown-Emberson
(Ekholm not on ice)
Pickard in starters net
S. Skinner
— Bob Stauffer (@Bob_Stauffer) January 15, 2025
Ekholm has missed little time since joining the Oilers in February 2023, only being out of the lineup for three games since arriving. One of which was the first game of the 2023-24 season as he recovered from injury, another on March 13th of that season, and the third being the final game of the year, as the Oilers rested multiple players ahead of the playoffs.
A model of consistency, his contributions since arriving in Edmonton are that of well above a first-pairing defenceman, according to Hockey Viz. His play this season has seen him drive offence at an eight percent rate above league average, defence at an 11 percent rate above league average and penalty kill work at a three percent rate above league average.
He and Evan Bouchard have been one of the best pairings in the league, spending the second-most five-on-five minutes together since his arrival in Edmonton among any pairings in the NHL, with 2,174 minutes together. Of 30 pairings who have played over 1000 five-on-five minutes in that time, Ekholm and Bouchard lead all pairings in scoring chances share (60.6 percent), high-danger scoring chance share (62 percent), goal share (63.9 percent), and expected goal share (60.8 percent).
Simply put: if Ekholm is to miss any time, it’s a significant loss for the Oilers.
The Minnesota Wild are dealing with a slew of their own injuries, without star winger Kirill Kaprizov, and three top-four defencemen in Jared Spurgeon, Brock Faber and Jonas Brodin. Puck drop between the two teams is set for 6:30 PM MST on Wednesday.
Zach Laing is Oilersnation’s associate editor, senior columnist, and The Nation Network’s news director. He also makes up one-half of the DFO DFS Report. He can be followed on Twitter, currently known as X, at @zjlaing, or reached by email at zach@thenationnetwork.com.
