How Mattias Ekholm soaked in his return to Nashville to face Predators at Bridgestone

A gold helmet with a number 14 decal pressed onto its back rested on a shelf above a stall in the Nashville Predators' locker room Tuesday morning.

A name plate with the same number hung directly below.

But it wasn't Mattias Ekholm's name spelled out on that plate. It was Gustav Nyquist's.

Ekholm's helmet, this one white but with the familiar number 14 stuck on its back, rested on a shelf above a stall in the visitors' locker room down the hall at Bridgestone Arena.

The man who spent 12 seasons with the Predators and said he never wanted to leave stood in front of that locker Tuesday morning in a room he'd never been in, barely two years after he signed a four-year, $25 million contract extension with the Predators.

The 6-foot-4, 215-pound defenseman they call "Ekky" was a stranger in his old home, back for his first visit since he was traded in February by the franchise that picked him in the fourth round of the 2009 NHL Draft to the Edmonton Oilers. By the franchise for which he played 719 games and suited up for 75 more in the postseason.

He now has one career victory against the Predators, who fell to the Oilers 6-1. Ekholm didn't scratch the stat sheet in 19 minutes, 13 seconds of ice time.

"It's going to be special," Ekholm said of his visit. "A part of it is to let it be special too. It's one of those nights. I'm never going to spend 10-plus years in another organization.

"I'm trying to embrace it."

'I love you, Ekky'

Speaking of embracing: The best 14 seconds of Ekholm's morning were spent in the clutches of Bridgestone Arena locker room attendant Craig "Partner" Baugh, one of the first familiar faces the defenseman saw.

That 14 seconds happened to be how long their tug-at-your-heartstrings hug lasted seemed fitting.

"I love you 'Ekky,' " Baugh said as he pressed his right cheek against Ekholm's bearded face. "I miss you, buddy."

Baugh belted out a belated "Ohhhhhhh" as the their grips grew tighter. Ekholm closed his eyes and squeezed both of his hands firmly against Baugh's back.

"I love you, too, buddy," Ekholm said. "I miss you, too."

The two talked a little while longer, smiles never escaping them. Talks and hugs with old friends continued when the Predators took the ice for their morning skate. He gave traded another hug, this one with Juuse Saros. He chatted with Alexandre Carrier and Dante Fabbro and others.

"He made me feel like it was back to normal," Ekholm said of Baugh. "He's one of the biggest legends we've ever had here. It was great to see him first thing; kind of took the nerves off a little bit.

"Other than that, it's weird (to be back)."

That time a teammate bought house from under Mattias Ekholm

Leaving Nashville was difficult enough for Ekholm, his then-pregnant wife Ida and their two young children.

Finding a house in his new home in Edmonton proved to be difficult too.

That's what happens when a teammate − in this case, then-rookie goalie Stuart Skinner − unknowingly buys a house you've been eyeing.

Skinner walked into the Oilers locker room the day after the purchase and noticed that Ekholm was somewhat down.

"Didn't get the house we wanted," Skinner said what Ekholm had told him.

Skinner probed further and finally figured out Ekholm was talking about his house.

"Here’s this rookie buying this house that the best defenseman I’ve ever played with wanted, who’s been in the league forever," Skinner said during the NHL Awards in Nashville this summer. "I felt bad."

Oh, and month and a half before Ekholm was traded, Canada enacted a two-year law banning foreigners from buying houses without first establishing residency.

"We were in a tough spot there for a little bit," Ekholm said.

With help from the Oilers, Ekholm was able to use his work visa instead. He ended up buying a house a block away from Skinner, who became a regular visitor.

"We're really happy where we're at right now," Ekholm said.

"You feel like you're going to spend your whole life here and then overnight, or over a phone call you (find out) you're going to a complete opposite climate, end of the world − not really. But that's part of this business."

Filip Forsberg, Mattias Ekholm: 'Endless memories, fighting'

Ekholm had some business to attend to before taking the ice for Tuesday night's game.

So on Monday night he made his way to Filip Forsberg's house. Predators captain Roman Josi joined them.

They talked. They laughed. They reminisced.

They bickered.

"There's endless memories," Forsberg said of Ekholm. "And fighting. It's more brothers than friends at this point.

"Even up until last year we were pissing each other off playing Mario Kart on the plane. It stinks that he's not here but our friendship doesn't end. It keeps growing for sure."

Forsberg said Ekholm helped him find his first apartment and "with all kinds of weird stuff I had never done."

"He was kind of like your big brother," he said.

Josi was driving to his team's game when he heard Ekholm had been traded for Tyson Barrie, prospect Reid Schaefer and a couple of draft picks. Josi immediately called his stunned friend, who was catching an 8 a.m. flight the next day to a new place.

The conversation was both difficult and brief.

"What are you going to say?" Josi said. "It definitely stinks in the beginning. ... He's happy there.

"We kind of grew up together here. We were young kids. We both came here without (girlfriends) so we hung out all the time."

More memories in Nashville

Ekholm counts as his favorite Predators moment an assist he had on Mike Fisher's triple-overtime goal in Game 4 of a 2016 postseason series against the San Jose Sharks.

More memories were made Tuesday. More memories were showed Tuesday.

Fans in the stands veered from the usual "sucks" chant that follows each visiting player's lineup introduction. Instead, the crowd roared out of respect and appreciation, country music star Dierks Bentley among them.

With 12 minutes, 43 seconds showing on the first-period clock, more roars. Oilers and Predators and fans alike fixed their eyes on the big screen hanging high above center ice.

They watched Ekholm score his first goal, misplay a fly ball, show his face in the community. All part of a video tribute to the man who never wanted to leave.

Over and again Ekholm gently tapped his heart with his left hand. He waved to the crowd.

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The video tribute ended with the words on the minds of many in attendance: "Thank you, Mattias."

Number 14 had at long last come "home" again, if only for a night.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: How Mattias Ekholm soaked in his return to Nashville to face Predators