BIOGRAPHY
Oliver Ekman-Larsson was born July 17, 1991, in Karlskrona, Sweden. He is a defenseman in the NHL.
Ekman-Larsson began his career at the Tingsryds AIF hockey club of the HockeyAllsvenskan during the 2007–08 season, recording 8 points in 27 games. He continued his career with Leksands IF, where he scored 44 points in two seasons in 2008–09 and 2009–10 in a total of 81 games. This season would be his last, as he would be drafted by the National Hockey League's Phoenix Coyotes.
Ekman-Larsson was selected sixth overall by Phoenix in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. OnMay 24, 2010, it was announced the Coyotes had signed Ekman-Larsson to an entry-level contract. In the season following his draft selection, Ekman-Larsson produced the second-most points among junior players in the Allsvenskan, despite missing several games while competing in the 2010 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships for Sweden.
Ekman-Larsson recorded his first career NHL point through an assist on a Kyle Turris goal on October 23, 2010. He scored his first career NHL goal on January 17, 2011, against goaltender Antti Niemi of the San Jose Sharks.
On January 29, 2015, during a game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ekman-Larsson scored the fastest shorthanded goal to start a period in NHL history, against Jonathan Bernier five seconds into the third period. On December 19, 2015, during a game against the New York Islanders, Ekman-Larsson scored the lone goal of the game, which proved to be the game-winning goal. With this goal, Ekman-Larsson surpassed Teppo Numminen's franchise record for the most game-winning goals by a defenceman with the 20th in his career. On January 12, 2016, Ekman-Larsson assisted on all three goals of rookie Max Domi's first career hat-trick, and would later go on to set a career-high four-point night by scoring the overtime-winning goal against the Edmonton Oilers. On March 24, Ekman-Larsson inadvertently scored the game-winning goal in a 3–1 win over the Dallas Stars. Initially credited to teammate Martin Hanzal, after further review the goal was shown to bounce off a Dallas player and into the net. With this game-winning goal, Ekman-Larsson set an NHL record for the most game-winning goals by a defenceman in a single season with eight, surpassing Tim Horton, Al MacInnis, Ray Bourque, Derek Morris and Dion Phaneuf. He became just the second defenceman in franchise history to record 20 or more goals in consecutive seasons, after Phil Housley. Ekman-Larsson finished the 2015–16 season ninth in balloting for the James Norris Memorial Trophy.
