5 Players New Jersey Devils Should Not Acquire From Salary Cap Strapped Teams
By Dave Browne
Oliver Ekman-Larsson
Oliver Ekman-Larsson has had a very productive career up until this point. In fact, playing in the desert has kept Ekman-Larsson under the radar. He is an offensive-minded defenseman who plays on the left side of the defense.
He has always been able to conceal some of his defensive deficiencies with his offensive prowess. He has scored 20-plus goals twice as a defenseman and has been a consistent point producer while quarterbacking the power play.
What Ekman-Larsson has brought to the table seemingly checks the boxes for some of the Devils’ biggest needs moving forward. So why be apprehensive about a defenseman of his caliber? Well, his offensive production has slipped dramatically during the 2019-20 season on one of the better Coyotes teams in recent memory. Even if you prorated the reduced regular season, his numbers would still be far below his career averages.
His power play production has also dipped over the past few seasons. His Corsi For percentage, which is a reflection of a player’s 5×5 performance was the second worst of his career. He has a career CF% of 50.3% which is merely average, but this past season he was 47.9%. He also carries a massive $8.2 million AAV for the next seven seasons. It is hard to ignore the success he has had thus far in his career, but at age 29 his best days are probably behind him. Hard pass on Ekman-Larsson if he were being dangled as trade bait for the salary cap strapped Coyotes.