*Photo from Sportsnet*
We have an absolute grand daddy of a trade happening right here. The Vancouver Canucks have acquired D Oliver Ekman-Larsson and RW Conor Garland from the Arizona Coyotes in exchange for LW Antoine Roussel, RW Loui Eriksson, C Jay Beagle, the 9th overall pick in this year's draft, a second round pick in next year's draft, and a 2023 7th round pick, according to Pierre Lebrun of TSN.
In the trade, 12 percent of Ekman-Larsson's salary is being retained by the Coyotes. No other salary will be retained in the trade. Ekman-Larsson has an AAV of $8.25 million in his deal, which has 6 years remaining. He has experienced a sharp decline since signing his new deal with the Coyotes, with his contract looking like one of the worst in hockey.
Asked about the trade, Ekman-Larsson said "Yeah, it's been crazy, but I'm super excited to be in Vancouver and super excited with what's ahead of us. It's a little bit of a relief, too. We've been talking about this for a year now and kind of felt that we were running out of time last year. But at the same time I'm happy. I'm super excited about of the kind of new start and the fresh start with Vancouver."
Last season with the Coyotes, Ekman-Larsson put up 3 goals and 21 assists, with an ATOI of 20:58 and a -17 plus/minus in 46 games played for the Coyotes. In his 11 seasons, all with the Coyotes, he has 128 goals and 260 assists, with a whopping -109 plus/minus in 769 games. He has only had a positive plus/minus in two seasons, and had one season with a plus/minus of zero.
Canucks GM Jim Benning said of adding Ekman-Larsson that "Besides what he'll do on the ice for us, he'll be a top-pairing guy, can play a lot of minutes, can be a matchup guy playing against the other teams' top lines, he's going to be a good mentor for our young players, because he was a high draft pick, he's gone through it. And so I think overall what he's going to bring to our whole team is going to be immense as far as in the dressing room to help mentor our young players, and what he does on the ice."
Garland, who is a pending RFA, is coming off one of the best seasons of his 3 season career in the NHL. Garland put up 12 goals and 27 assists, with a -3 plus/minus in an ATOI of 17:55, suiting up for 49 of 56 regular season games. In his career, Garland has 47 goals and 49 assists, scoring a career high 22 goals in the 2019-2020 season.
With the 9th overall pick that they got from the Canucks, the Coyotes used the pick on forward Dylan Guenther, who played for Edmonton of the Western Hockey league. The Canucks got the 9th pick after finishing last in the North Division last season, with a 23-29-4 record, missing the playoffs for the 5th time in 6 seasons.
A bottom 6 forward, Beagle will become a free agent at the conclusion of next season. He is due $3 million this year from the Coyotes, as part of the 4 year, $12 million deal he signed with the Canucks. In 30 games this season, Beagle managed just one goal and 4 assists, with a -2 plus/minus. For his career, he has 57 goals and 85 assists in 13 seasons, split between the Canucks and Washington Capitals.
The Coyotes have had an impressive offseason so far, gaining a glut of draft picks while swallowing some bad contracts from other teams in the short term, as Roussel and Eriksson's deals also expire after this season. The Coyotes also took on the expensive contract of Andrew Ladd from the Islanders, along with multiple draft picks, as well as Shayne Gostisbehere of the Flyers.
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