Opinion: Coyotes Should Reunite With OEL

Ex-Coyote Captain Oliver Ekman-Larsson was bought out by the Canucks after two lackluster (to say the least) seasons with Vancouver. Despite his several year run of mediocre to bad play, The Coyotes are in a spot in their rebuild where a reunion makes sense.

Recent Play

As stated already, OEL has not been a good defenseman for several years. His offense has dropped significantly since his 20 goal seasons in the 14/15 and 15/16 seasons. And his defense, while never a strong suit, has become a detriment.

Why Come Back to ARI?

So despite his poor play, I believe there are reasons to believe OEL can perform in a limited cheap role. With everything stated above, there’s reason to think there may not be a lot of teams in on him and that any contract signed will be pretty cheap. He’s not coming into a situation where he was traded for the ninth overall that became Dylan Guenther. He’s also not going to have to live up to the captaincy like he did his last couple of seasons in AZ. He can play a depth defenseman third-pairing role with some spot PP minutes. With likely another year of pain ahead before you start to see results, having someone who was always stated to be so good in the locker room would be a great addition to the chemistry. And help keep Keller happy before Cooley, and others start making the team and seeing more improvements. We’ve also seen Coach Tourigney get players like Gostisbehere and Bjugstad’s careers rebooted and have seen massive growth. OEL could prove to be a low-risk addition on a one year deal that, if he pans out, is movable at the deadline, and if he doesn’t, you didn’t lose anything but a low-dollar contract and roster spot.