Oilers’ Mattias Ekholm relishes long-awaited chance to have big impact for Sweden

EDMONTON — Fifteen-year-old Mattias Eklholm was glued to his television in Borlange, Sweden, back in February 2006, as his heroes met Finland in the gold medal men’s hockey game at the Turin Olympics.

It was a legendary game, from which legends emerged.

“You look at some of our biggest guys — (Nicklas) Lidstrom, (Mats) Sundin and these guys — they played pretty much that one Olympics that they won, and that’s how they became those big legends,” Ekholm said late last week, before leaving for this week’s 4 Nations Face-Off in Montreal and Boston.

Today, the Edmonton Oilers veteran defenceman — and Team Sweden assistant captain — can rewatch that gold-medal winner in a 3-2 win for Sweden. He can still see Sundin steering the opening faceoff of the third period over to Peter Forsberg on the left wing, Forsberg carrying the puck over the blue line and leaving it for Sundin along the left-wing boards, and the drop pass to Lidstrom.

Lidstrom skated into a slapshot that blew past Antero Niittymaki from distance for a 3-2 lead that would stand up for the Tre Kronor, and a teenaged Ekholm leapt out of his chair.

“I can tell you the game-winning goal to a T,”  Ekholm said, nearly 19 years later. “I know the faceoff. I know the drop pass. I know the slap shot.”

Will tomorrow’s young Swedes have such a memory of Ekholm and his generation of NHLers? If the answer to that is to be yes, then it starts this week at the 4 Nations Face-Off.

While we lament, here in Canada, that Connor McDavid and Nathan MacKinnon have been robbed of best-on-best hockey, we should acknowledge that fans say the same thing in Sweden, Finland, Czechia and Slovakia about their own guys.

One of those is Ekholm, whose prowess in the game is underappreciated — both in North America and back home in Sweden. He’d like to change that, especially in the latter locale.

“I’m getting towards the end of my career, but there is a window here of a couple years,” the 32-year-old Ekholm began, listing the 4 Nations, the upcoming world championship in Stockholm (and Denmark), and next year’s Olympic Games in Italy. “Now, I won’t be in (the worlds), because we’re going to be playing here in Edmonton (in the playoffs). But that’s in Sweden, and then we’ve got the Olympics next year.

“So there are three things right now that are lined up in the next 12 months that we have actually an opportunity to … maybe show doubters — the people who don’t follow the NHL every day.”

Ekholm, and to a lesser extent Swedish teammate Viktor Arvidsson, are prime examples of players whose standing is well known by those who watch the Oilers regularly, but are very likely underrated by those who don’t stay up to watch the late games. Or the overnight telecasts in Sweden.

“If he was in a market like Toronto or New York, it would be so much different,” said young Edmonton defenceman Ty Emberson. “He was the one who surprised me when I got here. I knew he was good, but I didn’t realize how good he actually was. He’s been unbelievable.”

How many defencemen have a tool box as stacked as that of the six-foot-five, 225-pound Ekholm?

He’s the classic No. 2, big and strong enough to defend next to an Evan Bouchard, and has the skating ability to play with and against the best players in the game. He’s a 40- to 45-point player, a Viking who is held in the highest regard in his dressing room.

“He does everything,” said Kris Knoblauch, his head coach in Edmonton. “He is hard to play against. He’s very physical, and gets a lot of respect around the league because he’s not dirty at all. He’s physical, but he doesn’t take any liberties on guys that are unfair.”

“He’s just like (so many) Swedish defencemen. He’s got all the tools,” added teammate Mattias Janmark. “(Oliver) Ekman-Larsson is pretty similar. Ecky is a little bit better defensively, but they have all of the tools. Typical steady, two-way defencemen, I would say.”

Will Ekholm ever become as highly regarded in Stockholm as he is in Northern Alberta?

Perhaps, but it will depend on the international hockey schedule, one that has been somewhat less than active over the course of Ekholm’s career. Remember: European legends are made primarily in Olympics and other major competitions, as NHL games are played in the middle of the night back home.

“I think so,” Ekholm allowed. “People want this. Players want this. It sucks that I was part of that generation where maybe we lost out on a couple Olympics, but now we’ve got to get (best-on-best) hockey back. We can’t cry over spilled milk.”

So, who is Mattias Ekholm?

His is that rare family that welcomed a trade to Edmonton, where he, his wife Ida and their three kids spend after-school hours on the outdoor rinks and ski hills of Edmonton, a lifestyle the Ekholms grew up enjoying in Sweden.

In the Oilers dressing room, Ekholm is a quiet, effective leader who speaks seldom but knows when his voice needs to be heard.

“I would say it’s rather small things here or there, rather than the big speech,” Janmark said. “Whenever we’re stubborn, playing the wrong way, and it’s pretty clear that we’re doing it but we won’t get away from it? That’s when he will raise his voice a little.”

This week, Ekholm will find his voice inside the Team Sweden dressing room. But first, he’ll find his legs out on the practice ice.

“It’s almost like you’re a little nervous going into it, because you don’t know. You haven’t been on this level since, what, seven years ago?” he asked.

Try almost nine, as the last World Cup of Hockey was held in September 2016.

“Wow,” he said. “That’s a long time ago.”

Too long, we’d say.

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