Ekholm was injured early in the third period of last week’s victory over the Hurricanes after his head came into contact with the ice from a routine hit in the corner, leading to his early exit, but the Swedish blueliner said on Tuesday he’s cleared protocols after saying that he’d never had a concussion before over his long hockey career.
The 36-year-old said it was a surreal experience as he tried to get himself up off the ice, before he made his way down the tunnel and seemingly snapped back to reality when he got back into the locker room. He joined the high-five line after the team’s win and said he felt lucky not to have experienced anything worse from the incident.
“It was a funky one,” Ekholm said. “I’ve never – knock on wood – had a concussion in my career so far, so it was scary at first. My legs just kind of gave out, and I couldn’t really get up to just sit on my knees.
“But as soon as I got down the tunnel, I was kind of like somebody flipped the light switch on, and I was kind of back to normal. I had no headache, no symptoms, nothing. But when you get hit like that, you gotta go through the protocol and all that, so they’ve been taking good care of me.
“But I’ve been feeling good since five minutes after it happened. I think I got an angel watching over me or something on that one, because it could have been a lot worse.”
Ekholm was back on the top pairing during Thursday’s practice and looks to assume his big-minute role for the Oilers alongside his dynamic and regular blueline partner Evan Bouchard, having a goal and two assists averaging 21:01 in ice time through 10 games this season.