The Vancouver Canucks are paying Oliver Ekman-Larsson a hefty sum to join another team.Vancouver bought out the highly paid defenseman, the club announced Friday. He's now an unrestricted free agent.Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin acknowledged the move provides his team with a significant amount of financial freedom in the short term."Buying out Oliver gives us a lot more flexibility and cap space the next couple of years and significantly reduces his hit in the subsequent seasons," Allvin said in a statement.Ekman-Larsson's agent Kevin Epp told CHEK's Rick Dhaliwal the Canucks informed him of the decision Friday morning. He added that Ekman-Larsson's camp was surprised because it got the impression a buyout wouldn't happen after meeting with ownership and management once Vancouver's season ended.The veteran blue-liner had four years remaining on the eight-year pact he signed with the Arizona Coyotes on July 1, 2018. It carried an $8.25-million cap hit before the buyout. The Canucks will now pay him a total of around $19.3 million over the next eight years.Vancouver will save more than $8 million next season and approximately $5.6 million in 2024-25, according to CapFriendly.The Canucks acquired Ekman-Larsson and forward Conor Garland in a July 2021 trade with the Coyotes. Vancouver sent Arizona three draft picks, including a first-rounder that Arizona used to select Dylan Guenther, plus forwards Loui Eriksson, Jay Beagle, and Antoine Roussel.Jim Benning was the Canucks' GM at the time.Ekman-Larsson's play declined sharply in recent years. Prime Oliver Ekman-Larsson was so good 😥 pic.twitter.com/3tWFJoLvWI— Evolving-Hockey (@EvolvingHockey) June 16, 2023 The Swedish rearguard, who'll turn 32 on July 17, posted at least 39 points per season for six straight campaigns from 2013-14 to 2018-19, including a 55-point output over 75 games in 2015-16. However, he failed to produce more than 30 in any of the next four seasons, and his average ice time dropped from 23:35 over his first 10 campaigns to 21:20 in his last three.The Coyotes drafted Ekman-Larsson sixth overall in 2009.