Oilers Can’t Lean on Ekholm as a Top-Pairing Fix

Edmonton is still sorting through the fallout and the noise, and Mattias Ekholm is suddenly a big part of that conversation. The problem is not whether he matters - it is whether the Oilers can ask him to carry top-pairing duty and expect that answer to hold. That is the kind of roster question that front offices love to postpone until they cannot anymore. The latest rumors only sharpen the issue, because the blue line has a way of exposing wishful thinking fast.