Oliver Ekman-Larsson obliged to change jersey number due to John Tavares

The newest Leaf Oliver Ekman-Larsson is no longer able to wear his number 91 as it currently belongs to John Tavares. He will wear a new number this season.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson, during his brief time with the reigning Stanley Cup champions in the Florida Panthers, did wear the number 91.

He will be forced to wear another number this coming season with the Toronto Maple Leafs as their former captain and now an assistant captain, John Tavares, sports the number 91. Ekman-Larsson will don the number 95 sweater for the Leafs in the 2024-25 season. The reason he chose the new number was rather an honest answer from Ekman-Larsson himself.

Ekman-Larsson was originally drafted sixth overall by the Phoenix Coyotes in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. Wearing number 23 while with the Coyotes, Ekman-Larsson had a big change in his career in July 2021, when he got traded to the Vancouver Canucks, together with Conor Garland, in exchange for several players and draft picks. In Vancouver, Ekman-Larsson continued to wear number 23.

Oliver Ekman-Larsson became an unrestricted free agent (UFA) after the Canucks decided to buy him out of the remaining four years of his deal in June of 2023. He eventually signed a one-year, $2.25 million contract with the Florida Panthers on July 1st of 2023 and briefly wore number 91 there.

Now firmly settled in Toronto, Ekman-Larsson has managed to get some time to practice with his new teammates. Signed for $3.5 million annually, the defenceman relishes the challenge of playing in one of hockey's most intense markets and seems to have blended in with his new team rather well.

Leafs fans definitely cannot wait to see him sport his new jersey number, but more importantly, see him and his team win a lot of games this season.

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