{"id":516418,"date":"2026-03-05T17:56:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T17:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/516418\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T17:56:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T17:56:13","slug":"montreal-targets-leafs-cup-winning-defenseman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/516418\/","title":{"rendered":"Montreal targets Leafs’ cup-winning defenseman"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t \"Toronto <\/p>\n

Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a potential surprise buyer for Oliver Ekman-Larsson in the rival Montreal Canadiens.<\/p>\n

According to a report from David Pagnotta of ‘The Fourth Period’ on HFTV, Ekman-Larsson is a player that is gaining traction on the trade market, including with the Montreal Canadiens.<\/p>\n

Pagnotta said that Montreal is among a number of teams that have looked at Ekman-Larsson, including fellow division rivals such as the Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, & Tampa Bay Lightning, as well as the Utah Mammoth.<\/p>\n

The 34-year-old leads Leafs defenseman with 35 points in 61 games this season, and is on the second year of a four year contract at $3.5M annually.<\/p>\n

How does Oliver Ekman-Larsson fit for Montreal? <\/p>\n

Oliver Ekman-Larsson would add to the Canadiens blueline that already has options on it’s right side with Noah Dobson and Kaiden Guhle.<\/p>\n

Guhle has been limited to just 20 games due to injury, with the 24-year-old having just five points on the season, making OEL an upgrade for this season.<\/p>\n

The Canadiens sit fourth in the Atlantic Division with a 33-18-9 record and 75 points, in the first wild card position but just two points behind Boston in the second spot.<\/p>\n

A top four of Lane Hutson and Noah Dobson, along with Mike Matheson and Ekman-Larsson, would make for one of the East’s strongest top-four groups.<\/p>\n

Toronto’s asking price has reportedly been a first round pick and a prospect. RHD David Reinbacher would be a sensible return as a prospect that is both with upside and close to NHL caliber, but has struggled to make an impact as a pro, needing a potential change of scenery.<\/p>\n

Trading Ekman-Larsson to a divisional rival is something picking up traction, but that could be what keeps him to Toronto if those are the options at hand.<\/p>\n

Previously on Hockey Patrol<\/p>\n

POLL<\/p>\n

1 HOUR AGO|52 ANSWERS<\/p>\n

Habs eye OEL: Montreal targets Leafs’ cup-winning defenseman<\/p>\n

Should the Leafs trade Ekman-Larsson to the Habs if they get a good enough return?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Photo credit: John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images The Toronto Maple Leafs have a potential surprise buyer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":516419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[159015,49,48,28950,30893,2338,743,141055,746],"class_list":{"0":"post-516418","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-montreal","8":"tag-bobby-mcmann","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-david-reinbacher","12":"tag-leafs-trade-rumors","13":"tag-montreal","14":"tag-montreal-canadiens","15":"tag-oliver-ekman-larsson","16":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=516418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/516418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=516418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=516418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=516418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}