Secret weapon
Nashville Predators defenceman Mattias Ekholm playing against Crosby, Malkin
Mattias Ekholm’s teammates wonder why it took so long for the 27-year-old Nashville Predators defenceman to get his due. “You ask anyone in our room, he’s been an elite defenceman for years now,” said Ryan Ellis, Ekholm’s longtime defensive partner before being replaced this season by former Montreal Canadien P.K. Subban. “If people covered our games more they probably would have seen it a lot easier too.”
Make no mistake, Subban is the engine that makes the Predators quasi-top pair go. But Ekholm, the 37th defenceman picked in the 2009 draft, has quietly emerged as a capable sidekick and secret weapon of sorts in the Preds’ quest to shut down Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin in the Stanley Cup final.
“That’s going to be a key to this series is to limit their offensive chances and limit their offensive game,” Ekholm said before Game 1, a 5-3 loss for the Preds in which the Penguins were largely contained – going
37 straight minutes without a shot.
Ekholm and Subban are Nashville’s best option for limiting the Penguins scary 1-2 punch.
They formed maybe the NHL’s most effective defence pairing during the regular season. According to Corsica Hockey, the Preds generated 55 per cent of five-on-five shot attempts when they were on the ice together
– a mark bettered by only Calgary’s Mark Giordano and Dougie Hamilton among duos that played more than 800 minutes. Ekholm and Subban completely shuttered Ryan Getzlaf in the Western Conference final (zero goals), contained Vladimir Tarasenko in the second round (zero goals at even-strength when the two were on the ice) and stifled Jonathan Toews in an opening round sweep (zero even-strength goals).
Preds coach Peter Laviolette thought it was obvious to pair Subban with Roman Josi when the former arrived from Montreal, but altered that plan after only a few games.
“As it turned out, the numbers and the eyeball all pointed to Roman and Ryan being a terrific pair (and) Ekholm and Subban being a really, really big, strong, tough pair to play against,” Laviolette said. “They’ve been able to handle a lot of minutes and a lot of big opponents.”
Ekholm, sporting a thick auburn-coloured playoff beard, remembers it taking some time to find chemistry with the former Norris trophy winner. But he thought it helped that both had similar styles. Each had no fear of joining the attack and could still defend capably.
Like Subban, Ekholm is also large at six-foot-four and 215 pounds, and maybe his greatest gift is being able to move like someone smaller.
Fellow Swede and Predators teammate Viktor Arvidsson thinks Ekholm, a forward growing up, might be one of the finest skaters at his position.