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An NHL insider is praising Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson as the team’s biggest surprise so far in the 2024-25 season and explains why.

To be clear, we’re still at the very beginning of the 2024-25 season, but one member of the Toronto Maple Leafs appears to have turned back the clock a bit when it comes to his play on the ice, and it’s showing. An NHL insider calls him the team’s biggest surprise so far in the new season.

Ekman-Larsson received a four-year, $16 million contract from the Toronto Maple Leafs over the summer after just winning the Stanley Cup with the Florida Panthers. Ekman-Larsson has been widely criticized in recent seasons for seemingly slowing down and no longer being the force on the blueline that he once was in Arizona. However, according to The Athletic’s James Mirtle, Ekman-Larsson has been the Toronto Maple Leafs’ biggest surprise through the first four games of the season, adding that he looks a lot more like the Arizona Coyotes’ Ekman-Larsson who earned his big deal.

Mirtle noted that Ekman-Larsson started on the team’s top two defensive pairings last season with the Florida Panthers due to an injury to Aaron Ekblad. It only took a month for him to move to the third pair and his minutes dropped to 16-17 minutes per night.

So far this season, Ekman-Larsson has played more than 20 minutes in each of the team’s four games, maxing out at 25:02 in Saturday’s 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. He accepts Craig Berube’s philosophy and it works well for both of them.

The biggest task for Oliver Ekman-Larsson and the Toronto Maple Leafs now is to ensure that the 33-year-old can maintain his current level of play for the team. OEL has battled his fair share of injuries over the years, playing for the Vancouver Canucks in two injury-riddled seasons that seemed to take their toll. Hopefully these issues are resolved and he can carry on as before.

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