Conversation with Mattias Ekholm | “Global Nashville with Karl Dean”

The Tennessee World Affairs Council

in association with

Belmont University Center for International Business and the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce

Global Nashville with Karl Dean

A Conversation with Mattias Ekholm

Germany, Egypt, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Switzerland, Kenya, Venezuela, Finland, Panama, Costa Rica, Sweden and more. Nashville is home to athletes who have come from around the world.

Among the many elements that make Nashville a global city is the athletes from around the world who come to play in the city’s professional sports teams — hockey, soccer, football. Take the Nashville Predators for example. In addition to the many Canadian players the roster includes talented athletes from Switzerland, Russia, Finland, Sweden and the Czech Republic. Just two of 22 players are from the U.S. Twenty came to Nashville from abroad.

To explore the route of international players to Nashville and their experiences in Music City, former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean spoke with Mattias Ekholm, veteran defenseman and alternate captain of the Nashville Predators. Mattias hails from Borlange, Sweden and has adopted Nashville as his new home to work his trade on the NHL ice and to raise his family of four.

We’re sure you’ll enjoy this conversation about professional hockey and life in Nashville from a premier international athlete.

Go Preds!

Thanks to the Nashville Predators for making this episode possible.

The Tennessee World Affairs Council is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and your donations to TNWAC are tax free to the extent allowed by law.

Mattias Ekholm Bio from the Nashville Predators web site:

Ekholm had plenty of success before playing his first NHL game during the 2011-12 season, more than two years after the Nashville Predators selected him in the fourth round (No. 102) of the 2009 NHL Draft. The defenseman had already won a gold medal with Sweden at the 2008 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Cup; played for his country at the 2008 IIHF World Under-18 Championship; led junior-aged skaters in the Swedish second division with 21 assists in 2009-10; won a bronze medal with the Swedes at the 2010 World Junior Championship; and been named the top rookie in the Swedish Elite League in 2010-11, when he tied for fourth among defensemen with 10 goals and 33 points.

Ekholm made his NHL debut with the Predators on Oct. 13, 2011, against the Phoenix Coyotes and also played Oct. 20 against the Vancouver Canucks before being assigned to Brynas of the Swedish Elite League on Oct. 22. He won the 2012 Borje Salming Award as the top defenseman in the league as he helped Brynas win the championship. During the playoffs Ekholm tied for the lead among defensemen with nine points and led all players at his position with eight assists.

Playing in the American Hockey League in 2012-13, he led Milwaukee defensemen in points (32) and tied for the league lead among defensemen with seven power-play goals. Ekholm played his only NHL game of the 2012-13 season for Nashville on April 15, 2013, against Vancouver.

Ekholm ranked 12th among NHL rookie defensemen in both games played (62) and minutes played (1,042:38) in 2013-14 and finished 18th among rookie defensemen in points (nine) and assists (eight). Ekholm was one of six NHL defensemen to play at least 50 games and have 10 or fewer penalty minutes. He got his first NHL point with an assist on Oct. 26, 2013, against the St. Louis Blues, to begin a four-game assist streak.

Ekholm made his Stanley Cup Playoff debut in 2014-15, appearing in all six of Nashville’s postseason games and scoring a goal in Game 3 of the first round against the Chicago Blackhawks. He had seven goals and 18 points in 80 regular-season games that season, including five goals and 13 points on the road. In 2015-16 he played all 82 games for the first time.

After reaching double figures in goals for the first time with 10 in 2017-18, Ekholm had an NHL career-high 44 points (eight goals, 36 assists) in 2018-19. He also had a career-best plus-27 rating.

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THE TENNESSEE WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCIL HAS BEEN A PROUD MEMBER OF THE WORLD AFFAIRS COUNCILS OF AMERICA SINCE 2007

THE MISSION of the nonprofit, nonpartisan Tennessee World Affairs Council is to promote international awareness, understanding and connections to enhance the region’s global stature and to prepare Tennesseans to thrive in our increasingly complex and connected world.

THE VISION of the Tennessee World Affairs Council is a well-informed community that thinks critically about the world and the impact of global events.

THANKS TO OUR PARTNERS IN GLOBAL AFFAIRS AWARENESS AND EDUCATION OUTREACH

THE VISION of the Tennessee World Affairs Council is a well-informed community that thinks critically about the world and the impact of global events.