Oliver Ekman-Larsson decided to leave the Florida Panthers in free agency and sign a multi-year deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs.

After Ekman-Larsson helped Florida win the Stanley Cup, he quickly signed a deal with Toronto in free agency, despite the Panthers having interest in bringing him back. However, the defensemen spoke to Craig Morgan of GoPhnx.com and explained why he decided to sign with the Maple Leafs.

“It’s so weird. You just won the Cup with a team that you have been battling with for a year and love so much and have so much respect for — the whole organization with what they have done for me personally — so it wasn’t an easy decision. I am a guy that always tries to go with my gut feeling and when Toronto showed interest I got that feeling that this is what I wanted to do and this is what we wanted to do as a family,” Ekman-Larsson said.

“I’ve always liked coming in there as an away team, playing in that building. It’s always special. Obviously, there’s a lot of history in the organization and I feel like they have a really good team that has a chance to do something special as well. I think it’s a good fit,” Ekman-Larsson added.

Ekman-Larsson signed a four-year $14 million deal with Toronto on July 1 to help bolster their defensive core.

As Ekman-Larsson, he says getting to play in Toronto and help the Maple Leafs win their first Stanley Cup since 1967.

Ekman-Larsson Has Familiarity With Maple Leafs Front Office

Ekman-Larsson’s familiarity with Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving and executive Shane Doan helped played a role in his signing in Toronto.

Treliving worked as an assistant general manager of the Arizona Coyotes to begin his career where Ekman-Larsson and Doan played. Given he’s a former teammate with Doan and has worked with Treliving in the past, the defenseman says he’s eager to work with them again.

“I don’t want to sound like I’m sucking up to him but Brad is one unbelievable person. I don’t think Toronto knows how lucky they are to have a guy like that who cares a lot about his surroundings and organization and players. And then the other guy, he’s okay, too. He meant so much to me with what he did for me when I was a kid in Arizona. Playing with a guy like that — I wish everybody had the chance to be around a guy like Doaner,” Ekman-Larsson said.

Ekman-Larsson has skated in 982 regular season games recording 144 goals and 327 assists for 471 points.

In free agency, Toronto was active in improving their defense as the Maple Leafs inked Chris Tanev and Ekman-Larsson to multi-year deals.

Tanev and Ekman-Larsson are veterans who have plenty of experience in the NHL, which Treliving is excited about.

“We’ve got a group of defensemen. I’d rather have too many than not enough, and we’ll try to sort this out in the coming days. Today’s a day that you can add players, but you build your team over the course of the summer. There are certainly some areas that we still want to address and still want to augment,” Treliving said on July 1.

Toronto will open its 2024-25 NHL season on the road on October 9 against the Montreal Canadiens.