Ekholm set for ‘special’ return to Nashville with Oilers

EDMONTON, AB – Mattias Ekholm discussed with his family whether they should attend his first game back to play against the Nashville Predators.

The Edmonton Oilers defenseman has a strong connection to Nashville, selected by the Predators in the fourth round (No. 102) of the 2009 NHL Draft and spending nine-and-a-half seasons playing home games at Bridgestone Arena before he was traded Feb. 28.

“My wife and I, we debated back and forth,” Ekholm said Monday prior to departing with the Oilers for Nashville. “We’re arriving around 6 p.m., and leaving right after the game, so we decided for them to stay back. We have three kids, and one is only three months old, so to jump on a plane, four hours there, four hours back, my wife was probably making the right decision to say, ‘we’ll watch it on TV and support you.’”