Predators, Mattias Ekholm Agree To Four-Year Contract Extension
Another marquee member of the 2022 unrestricted free agent class is off the market.
According to Elliotte Friedman, the Nashville Predators have inked defenseman Mattias Ekholm to a four-year contract extension worth $6,250,000 annually.
Hearing NASH gets a key piece of business done. Mattias Ekholm re-signing at 4 years, $6.25M AAV (not $6.35)
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 13, 2021Ekholm joins the likes of Aleksander Barkov and Mika Zibanejad as top names from next summer’s free-agent market to ink a new contract ahead of the 2021-22 season.
Originally drafted in the fourth round of the 2009 draft, Ekholm has spent his entire career with the Predators. He broke into the NHL in 2013-14 on the team’s bottom pairing but quickly developed into a reliable two-way defender in Nashville’s excellent top-four.
During Nashville’s run to the Stanley Cup Final in 2017, Ekholm logged 25:20 per night. The best season of his career came in 2018-19 when he logged 23:22 per night, scored 44 points, and finished 10th place in Norris Trophy voting.
It’s somewhat puzzling to see Nashville opt to sign Ekholm at this stage, given the team’s current trajectory. They moved both Ryan Ellis and Viktor Arvidsson in the offseason and it seemed as though moving Ekholm, now on the wrong side of 30, to a contending team ahead of the trade deadline was inevitable.