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The Vancouver Canucks are buying out underperforming defenceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson after two disappointing seasons with the team.
Ekman-Larsson had four years remaining on his eight-year, $66-million contract, which carried an average annual value of $8.25 million. The Canucks will pay him not to play for them for the next eight years.
The 31-year-old scored only two goals and registered 20 assists in 54 games for the Canucks in 2022-23. He had a similarly uninspired 2021-22 season with five goals and 24 assists in 79 games, and posted negative possession metrics in both campaigns.
The native of Sweden was traded to Vancouver from the Arizona Coyotes along with Connor Garland in July 2021 in exchange for the No. 9 pick in the 2021 NHL Draft (Dylan Guenther), plus forwards Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, and Antoine Roussel.
Although it is unusual to see a team buy out a player with so many years remaining on his contract, the Canucks did so to alleviate a near-term salary-cap crunch. The team projected to enter the 2023 offseason approximately $668,000 above the cap prior to the transaction, but will have some money to play with in the veteran defenceman's absence.
The price of freeing up that space is a notable cap hit through 2030-31.
Making this move is an admission by the Canucks that adding the defender prior to the 2021-22 season was a major blunder. Ekman-Larsson's play was showing signs of decline at the time of the deal, but there was optimism that a change of scenery would rejuvenate him considering he was still in his twenties.
Prior to the trade, he was coming off a nine-year run with the Coyotes where he'd ranked 15th among all defencemen in points (345) and fifth in ice time (15,486:04). During that span he had two 20-goal seasons, led the Coyotes in points twice, and picked up Norris Trophy votes five times.
It will be interesting to see what kind of interest he generates on the free agent market as teams may see him as a player capable of contributing in a smaller role than he had in Vancouver — where he skated 21:27 per night over the last two seasons.
Daniel Weinman was crowned winner of the 2023 World Series of Poker (WSOP) Main Event on Monday, taking home a record breaking $12.1 million in winnings. Weinman had to outlast the other 10,043 entrants to take home the prize and get his hands on his share of live poker’s largest ever prize pool – a staggering $93,399,900. As well as taking home the prize money, 35-year-old Weinman also got his hands on the WSOP Main Event bracelet. The huge bracelet contains 500 grams of 10-karat yellow gold, as well as 2,352 various precious gemstones.
Daniel Weinman won the World Series of Poker's main event world championship on Monday in Las Vegas, earning $12.1 million along the way. Playing in the tournament for a 16th year, Weinman was tops in a deep pool of 10,043 players vying for $93.39 million. His victory came after just 164 hands at the final table. "I was honestly on the fence about even coming back and playing this tournament," the 35-year-old Atlanta native told reporters afterward. Weinman's final table featured Jan-Peter Jachtmann, who landed in fourth place and took home $3 million, as well as Toby Lewis, who finished seventh and secured $1.42 million. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the main event's entry pool far outpaced the previous record of 8,773 set in 2006. "I've always kind of felt that poker was kind of going in a dying direction, but to see the numbers at the World Series this year has been incredible," Weinman said. "And to win this main event, it doesn't feel real. I mean, [there's] so much luck in a poker tournament. I thought I played very well." Steven Jones finished second, securing $6.5 million. And Adam Walton settled for third and a $4 million prize.
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