Toronto Maple Leafs defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson will make his 1,000th NHL appearance during Wednesday’s game against the Washington Capitals, and the team commemorated the occasion with a new profile picture on social media.
Ahead of Wednesday’s game, Toronto rebranded to a custom ‘OEL’ logo in celebration of his accomplishment.
“Amazing accomplishment,” Maple Leafs defenceman Chris Tanev said following Tuesday’s game against the Ottawa Senators. “He’s a great guy. Very humble, very soft-spoken. Likes to have fun. On the ice, he plays really hard, has a great stick, makes a ton of plays and he plays with a little edge that we need for sure. It’s a huge accomplishment, and we’re all excited for him.”
“Poise, great leader, plays the right way. Obviously, he won last year and he was a huge part of that team, so we’re extremely happy to have him on our team this year.”
Ekman-Larsson has added offensive flair and inventiveness to a Maple Leafs’ defence corps that didn’t produce any real secondary scoring, outside of Morgan Rielly’s contributions last season. Throughout the year, Ekman-Larsson has been primarily paired with Rielly, while getting some reps on the team’s top power play unit, primarily playing with the second group.
“It doesn’t feel like I’ve been around for that long,” Ekman-Larsson said via NHL.com’s Dave McCarthy. “You dream about playing one game in this league, and here I am 15 years later. You feel very fortunate that you’ve got a chance to play for a long time. It’s not easy to stick in this league, so it’s a lot of work that goes into it. You have to approach it like finding a way to get better each day, work on your game every single day and have that drive where you want to get better, because that’s how you have a long career.”
“It’s really special, credit to him,” Maple Leafs forward John Tavares said Tuesday night. “Obviously, an amazing career, incredible longevity and he’s still shown so much in the tank. Obviously, great addition for us, we want to make it special for him and want to make it a great night.”
Ekman-Larsson has recorded one goal and six points in 17 games with the Maple Leafs, while posting 145 goals and 477 points through 999 career games. Congratulations to Ekman-Larsson on this accomplishment!
