BLOG: Ekholm making Edmonton a home

EDMONTON, AB - Mattias Ekholm has spent the Oilers offseason turning Edmonton into an Ek-home.

The 33-year-old defenceman is finally getting some time to adjust to his new locale after a whirlwind NHL Trade deadline saw his life uprooted from Nashville where he spent the first 12 years of his career and started making Canada his offseason home. Although he would rather be playing, the time off has been a nice change of pace for Ekholm and his family.

Following his deadline arrival, Ekholm was thrust into a frantic Oilers stretch drive and playoff run, all while trying to move his pregnant wife Ida and his two young children Mya and William to Edmonton. Now with the Oilers nearly a full month removed from their last postseason game against the Vegas Golden Knights, the towering Swedish defender has been able to settle down and see what Alberta's capital has to offer.

"Yeah, we've been around a little bit, been to a couple of splash parks with the kids and I think it seems to be the way to go here when you have kids," Ekholm said. "There's, I guess, less lakes or water around where you can swim, so we've been around a little bit like that. But other than that, just trying to get our house together and kids have been in school still so we're chipping away, but it's been great."

The move has been a welcome transition for Ekholm both on and off the ice. At the rink, he was a perfect complement to the pieces already inside the Oilers dressing room, bringing his high-defensive acumen, calmness under pressure, and a subtle bit of nastiness in front of the net. The Oilers were a perfect fit for Ekholm as well, being heavily in the mix among the Stanley Cup contending teams while the 12-year vet strives to check off the ultimate goal in a National Hockey League player's career.

Away from the rink, Ekholm has admitted that the Canadian climate is better suited for his Scandinavian roots. The longer periods of daylight remind him of visiting his in-laws and the cooler nights are a big departure from the sweltering Nashville heat.

Despite all the positives, it hasn't always been an easy process for Ekholm and his family.

"Just a matter of moving when you've been in the same place for a long time, packing up a house. I mean, I can't speak enough of what my wife has done," he said. "My in-laws were over and everyone's just been chipping away, but we haven't been able to sell either our cars or our houses back home.

"It's a process and you don't even think about it because when you're in the hockey season you don't have any time at all to even think about it, so you just put it on hold and now is the time to deal with that kind of stuff. That whole move and getting the kids into a new school and all that has probably been the biggest challenge."

It's taken a lot of work by the Ekholm family's end to settle into a new city, but the Canadian lifestyle has been an easy adjustment so far. There is an added bonus for Ekholm when it comes to the move. The product of Borlange plans to head back to Sweden once his NHL career is finished and is excited at the prospect of introducing his children to the concept of snow and winter before the inevitable move.

"It's gone quick. It's been great. We have a house that we really like and in a good community, good neighbourhood. My son plays soccer on the community league team, so we're getting into the more of the Canadian way of doing things with both ourselves and the kids. So for us it's been great," Ekholm said. "We know that start of next year we will be ready and settled and everything will be just ready to go. So that's the big pro of staying here in the summer. I can't say anything more about it. We will move back to Sweden when it's all said and done. So to come here and kind of adjust the kids to know that there is snow out there and there is where we're going to settle."

The majority of NHLers don't typically make their playing city their offseason home base. The players across the league come from a diverse variety of backgrounds and sometimes you miss the local amenities of home, or they have the means to find a more vacation oriented place to spend their downtime. For Ekholm, Edmonton fulfills a lot of the necessities the family focused defender needs.

One place in the city he has visited multiple times is a little taste of home in Ikea. His family is about to grow by one with his wife Ida expecting their third child later this summer and there have been a number of necessities to pick up in preparation. The whole family is excited about the development, with Mattias discussing how the looming bundle of joy has become more real for Mya and William as they've watched their mom's belly get bigger and bigger.

Although Ekholm is a go to on the Oilers penalty kill, a third child is one 'man advantage' that he admits the parents still aren't quite prepared for.

"I don't know if you ever get ready for it. I don't think I was with the first or the second [child] either, but you kind of go with it at least," Ekholm said. "It's a little bit easier when you get the third. You have some clothes, you have a stroller, you have the car seats, you have all that stuff. So it's more a matter of getting figuring out how the outnumbered situation is going to be like and how you solve it to the best of your capability, but I'm sure we'll figure it out."