Oliver Ekman-Larsson, back on the ice at Gila River Arena this week, said he feels the best he has this season and is ready to make an impact for the Arizona Coyotes against the Nashville Predators in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers.
"I had a knee surgery right before the season started and didn't really get back to 100 percent …" the defenseman said Tuesday. "My knee is feeling 100 percent, and I've been able to get stronger, faster."
Ekman-Larsson, who returned from Sweden two weeks ago, skated for the first time with teammates in Phase 2 of the NHL Return to Play Plan at the Coyotes arena in Glendale, Arizona, on Monday.
The Coyotes were 33-29-8 (.529 points percentage) before the NHL paused the season March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus and will be the No. 11 seed in the Western Conference Qualifiers. They will play the No. 6 seed Predators (35-26-8, .565) in a best-of-5 series; the winner will advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the loser will have a chance at the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft in the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery.
"I think we're pretty even," Ekman-Larsson said of the matchup. "We have unbelievable goalies that stood on their heads earlier in the season (Darcy Kuemper, Antti Raanta), we battled some injuries, but then kind of fell off a little bit. Just watching the guys and being around them for a couple days, it looks like everybody really put in the work, and I'm really excited to see all of them do that. Time will tell, I guess.
"I think it's important that we get a good start and that first day of camp; we just go as hard as we can and do whatever we can to be prepared." Training camp, the start of Phase 3, is set to begin July 13 for the 24 teams that will compete for the Stanley Cup. Teams will travel to two hub cities July 26 in preparation for the Aug. 1 start of Phase 4, which will have 16 teams playing eight best-of-5 series and a round-robin among the top four teams from the Eastern and Western conferences to determine seeding for the playoffs.
"I'm super excited that we get the chance to really push to get into a Stanley Cup Playoff spot, play against Nashville. That's going to be really fun, but I think it means a lot that we got a couple months off," Ekman-Larsson said. "Obviously, you want to be out there with the guys and battle. I don't like to be on the side and watch the guys battle without me, but I feel like (I) rushed it a little bit (returning to the lineup after the minor offseason surgery).
"It's easy to sit here now and talk about it afterwards, but if I would have done it all over again, I might have given a little bit more time (before returning to the lineup)."
The Arizona captain missed four games from Feb. 1-8 after a knee-on-knee collision with Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Brown on Jan. 30.
Ekman-Larsson, who has scored at least 42 points in five of his 10 NHL seasons, all with the Coyotes, had 30 points (nine goals, 21 assists) in 66 games this season after scoring 44 (14 goals, 30 assists) in 81 games in 2018-19.
"It was a little bit up and down (this season)," Ekman-Larsson said. "Obviously, I would like to put up some more points, but I felt pretty good and I put in a lot of work to get better. But there's a lot of good players in this league and it's hard to put up points and do everything out there.
"I wouldn't say that it was my best season, but I'm happy that I will be returning and can do something about it."
Ekman-Larsson said forward Taylor Hall, acquired by the Coyotes in a trade from the New Jersey Devils on Dec. 16, could play a big role in them being a confident team in the qualifier series against the Predators. Hall, who was voted winner of the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP in 2018, led Arizona with 27 points (10 goals, 17 assists) in 35 games after the trade.
"He's a lot of fun to play with," Ekman-Larsson said. "He brings a little bit of everything. He can score, he's fast, and he handles the puck very good, so I feel like he's giving the other guys a little bit more time with the puck. I really liked that addition that we that we got."
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