Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Edmonton Oilers Officially Receive Terrible News Involving Mattias Ekholm

Originally posted on House of Hockey | By Jack Sutherland | Last updated Apr 14, 2025 1:51 PM ET

The Edmonton Oilers are once again facing the Los Angeles Kings in Round 1 of the playoffs, but they just received terrible news regarding a top defenseman.

The 1st round matchup for the Edmonton Oilers is officially set - for the 4th straight year, they will meet the divisional foe Los Angeles Kings in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

This time, the Kings are hoping that things will be different, considering that they now enjoy home-ice advantage. And speaking of advantages, the Kings just picked up another one.

The Oilers have announced discouraging injury news on defenseman Mattias Ekholm, confirming that he'll be unavailable for the entirety of the opening round of the postseason.

Ekholm missed 7 games before returning to the lineup on Friday night as part of his team's win over the San Jose Sharks, but he was forced from the game after re-aggravating an existing injury.

NHL analyst Elliotte Friedman indicated that the latest reports he heard from his sources following Friday's game regarding Ekholm's status were not optimal.

A pretty innocuous-looking play that Ekholm suffered last night and immediately the news after the game was (that) it wasn't good. They haven't said anything officially yet because I still think they're trying to determine the exact recovery period, that's number one. Number two, there's no confirmation on the exact injury.

Friedman then spoke the dreaded words - the Oilers were preparing for him to potentially miss the rest of the year.