Mattias Ekholm says he feels incredibly lucky to be returning to the Edmonton Oilers lineup Wednesday after suffering a concussion last week.
His comments came in a video shared by the Oilers, and Calgary visits for the first Battle of Alberta of the season.
The 36-year-old owns a +15 rating through 10 games.
Only Evan Bouchard and Connor McDavid have a better mark on the team.
He'd also posted a +4 over his last 5 games before getting hurt.
Getting him back is like finding your reading glasses after a week of squinting at the menu. Everything suddenly looks a lot clearer.
So how much did the Oilers miss him?
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Here is another injury update :
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A welcome injury update arrives for Oilers with Mattias Ekholm back against Calgary
The Oilers have dropped two straight, including a 7-2 home loss to Toronto on Saturday.
Monday brought a 4-3 shootout loss to Detroit.
The rest of the blue line has struggled lately. Connor Murphy is a -6 over his last 5 games.
Jake Walman sits at -7 on the season with a $7,000,000 cap hit.
Bouchard, meanwhile, leads the defense with 21 points.
Tristan Jarry's .862 save percentage hasn't helped anybody back there, either.
Ekholm carries a $4,000,000 cap hit, which looks like a bargain right about now.
Babcock should resist the urge to load him up right away. A concussion isn't something you test with heavy minutes on night one.
Ekholm had been listed as day-to-day and expected out until at least October 31, so Wednesday comes ahead of that window.
The Flames arrive on a four-game winning streak after beating Toronto 5-2 on Monday.
Matvei Gridin scored twice in that win.
Ryan Huska's group is just 1-3-0 on the road, though.
Devin Cooley owns a .915 save percentage, and Joel Farabee leads Calgary with 11 points.
Edmonton still leads the Pacific with 18 points, one ahead of Vegas.
A road swing through the Islanders, Rangers and Devils follows.
If Ekholm looks like himself against the Flames, the conversation in Edmonton shifts right back to the crease, where it probably belonged all along.
Should the Oilers limit Mattias Ekholm's minutes in his return against the Flames?
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