Sweden Growing up in Sweden, Eriksson Ek played junior hockey for
Färjestad BK in the
J18 Elit and
J20 Nationell league. He split the
2014–15 season between Färjestad BK's junior team in the J20 Nationell league and their senior team in the
Swedish Hockey League (SHL). Leading up to the
2015 NHL entry draft, Eriksson Ek was ranked 22nd among all international skaters by the
NHL Central Scouting Bureau's mid-season ranking. In the SHL, Eriksson Ek scored four
goals and two
assists for six
points while he scored 21 goals and 32 points through 25 games for Farjestad’s junior team. Eriksson Ek earned praise by hockey pundits throughout the season, entering the draft as the fourth-highest rated international skater. Several hockey analysts theorized that Eriksson Ek would be chosen 19th overall by the
Detroit Red Wings, becoming their first Swedish forward drafted in the first round. He was eventually drafted in the first round, 20th overall, by the
Minnesota Wild and signed to a three-year, entry-level contract worth $2.775 million. Rather than start playing with the Wild at once, Eriksson Ek returned to Sweden for the
2015–16 season where he accumulated 15 points with Färjestad BK.
Minnesota Wild Following his second SHL season, Eriksson Ek attended the Wild's training camp ahead of the
2016–17 season, where he was paired with
Jason Pominville and
Jason Zucker. He recorded one assist and 10 shots on goal through five preseason games before being re-assigned to the Wild's
American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the
Iowa Wild, to start the season. Part of the reason for his assignment was due to Wild's
salary cap issues and his immigration papers needing approval. As his immigration paperwork had yet to be approved, he was not expected to make his AHL debut immediately following the assignment. He eventually made his debut with the Iowa Wild on 18 October against the
Grand Rapids Griffins and scored his first goal with the team that night. He was recalled back to the NHL the following game. Over his first four games with the Wild, Eriksson Ek tallied four more points and became the first teenager in Wild history to record three assists in one game on 26 October. However, after his first four games, he would then go pointless in his next five. Over 26 regular-season games with the Farjestad BK, Eriksson Ek recorded eight goals and eight assists for 16 points and added three goals and three assists for six points over seven SHL playoff games. On 28 March, Eriksson Ek returned to the Minnesota Wild for the remainder of the 2016–17 season. Eriksson Ek stepped into a primarily bottom-six role upon rejoining the team and finished the regular season with three goals and four assists for seven points over 15 games. He went pointless over three games in the Stanley Cup playoffs During the 2017 offseason, Eriksson Ek trained alongside fellow Swedish NHL players
Jonas Brodin,
Oscar Klefbom, and
Marcus Johansson while also adding of muscle.
USA Today listed Eriksson Ek as one of the top rookies to know for the 2017–18 season and a possible candidate to win the
Calder Memorial Trophy as the NHL's Rookie of the Year. While participating in the NHL's Traverse City Prospects Tournament, Eriksson Ek suffered a mild injury that resulted in him missing the first few days of training camp. He recovered in time to play in the Wild's opening night game against the
Detroit Red Wings, where he immediately found chemistry on the third line with
Marcus Foligno and
Chris Stewart. The trio scored the team's first two goals of the season 48 seconds apart in the Wild's opening night game against the
Detroit Red Wings. His production slowed down over the next 10 games as he accumulated only three points while averaging nearly 14 minutes of ice time as the team's third-line centre. After failing to improve on his three points in the first 20 games of the season, Eriksson Ek was re-assigned to the Iowa Wild on 21 November. He recorded three goals and four assists for seven points over seven games with the Iowa Wild before being recalled back to the NHL on 6 December. Over the month of December, Eriksson Ek was paired on a line with
Daniel Winnik but continued his scoring struggles. After only accumulating seven points over 42 games, Eriksson Ek was re-assigned to the AHL on 26 January. He added one assist over one game with the Iowa Wild before returning to the NHL level three days later. After going 50 games without a goal, Eriksson Ek broke his scoring drought in a 5–3 win over the
New York Islanders on 19 February 2018. Eriksson Ek finished the 2017–18 regular season with six goals and 10 assists for 16 points over 75 games. He tallied his first career post season point, an assist off of
Matt Dumba's second period goal, in Game 3 to help the Wild win 6–2. However, this would prove to be his only point of the series Prior to the start of the
2018–19 season, Eriksson Ek was expected to play on a line with
Jordan Greenway and
Charlie Coyle. However, an early season lower-body injury kept him out of the lineup for six games starting on 11 October. As Greenway had been reassigned to the AHL prior to Eriksson Ek's reactivation from injured reserve, his new linemate on the fourth line was
Matt Read. Upon returning from his injury, Eriksson Ek struggled to produce points and only accumulated one goal and three assists over 27 games. In an effort to help Eriksson Ek regain his confidence, head coach Boudreau re-assigned him to the Iowa Wild. Over his five-game stint in the AHL, Eriksson Ek recorded four goals and two assists for six points, including two power-play goals and two game-winning goals. He was recalled back to the NHL level on 8 January 2019. Upon returning to the NHL, Eriksson Ek was partnered with forwards
Kyle Rau and
Landon Ferraro and earned time on the team's
penalty kill as a replacement for
Eric Fehr. He added one goal and four assists over the following couple of games before being returned to the AHL in order to gain playing time during the NHL's mandated mid-winter break. Upon returning to the NHL, Eriksson Ek formed an immediate connection with
Luke Kunin whom he had played alongside in the AHL. Over their first four games back in the NHL, Kunin tallied four points while Eriksson Ek tallied three and the two were routinely praised by head coach Boudreau. However, their momentum stagnated after both Kunin and Eriksson Ek suffered injuries in March. Eriksson Ek missed eight games before returning to the Wild lineup as a second-line center between Kunin and Greenway. The trio of Eriksson Ek, Kunin, and Greenway were dubbed the "GEEK Squad" by the media as a result of their last name initials. He finished the regular season with a career-high seven goals and 14 points through 58 games. On 21 August, Eriksson Ek signed a two-year, $2.975 million contract extension with the Wild as a
restricted free agent. Despite the
2019–20 season being cut short due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, Eriksson Ek set new career highs in goals and assists over 62 games. He tallied two goals and 10 assists for 12 points through the first 30 games of the season before suffering an upper-body injury during a game against the
Philadelphia Flyers on 14 December. He missed four games to recover from the injury and scored the game-winning goal in his return on 23 December. Although Eriksson was setting personal records, the Wild struggled to win games and eventually replaced head coach Bruce Boudreau with
Dean Evason on 14 February. At the time, the Wild had a 27–23–7 record and were within three points of a wild-card spot for the
2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. When the NHL paused play due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Eriksson Ek had already set new career-highs with eight goals and 21 assists for 29 points over 62 games. As the Wild were a 10th-seed team, they faced the 7th-seeded
Vancouver Canucks in the qualifying tournament. Eriksson Ek recorded his first career postseason goal in Game 4, although the Wild would be eliminated that game. Following the 2019–20 season, the Wild lost veteran centermen
Mikko Koivu and
Eric Staal, which resulted in Eriksson Ek stepping into a larger role as the team's first-line centre. As the Wild's top centerman, Eriksson Ek started the season with three goals over five games and had goals in consecutive games for the first time in his NHL career. Over the season, Eriksson Ek often played on a line with Greenway and Foligno, which was nicknamed the GREEF line after their last names. In February, the Wild postponed six games after numerous players contracted COVID-19. Eriksson Ek was on the league's COVID-19 protocol list from 3 February to 13 February. At the end of his first season as the team's first line centre, Eriksson Ek improved his career-high goal total from eight to 19 while averaging a career-high 17 minutes per game. On 2 July 2021, Eriksson Ek signed an eight-year, $42 million contract extension with the Wild. Eriksson Ek remained the Wild's top line centre for the
2021–22 season but swapped Foligno and Greenway for
Kirill Kaprizov and
Mats Zuccarello. On 20 October 2021, Eriksson Ek recorded his first career NHL hat-trick in a 6–5 win over the Winnipeg Jets. His efforts helped the Wild start the season with a 5–3–0 record. Although he suffered an injury on 20 December and recovered in mid-January, Eriksson Ek only missed three games due to game cancellations related to COVID-19 outbreaks. However, his return was further delayed as he was entered into the league's COVID-19 protocol from 13 January to 19 January. Once he was able to return to the Wild, Eriksson Ek was reunited with Foligno and Greenway on the Wild's top line. The trio played an important role in the Wild's late season success as one of the NHL's top shutdown lines. On 5 May, Eriksson Ek and
Tyson Jost recorded goals 97 seconds apart to mark the second-fastest goals to start a game in franchise history as they led the Wild 5–1 over the
Washington Capitals. This also marked Eriksson Ek's career-best 20th and 21st goals and his 12th point over 14 games. However, he would soon experience a nine-game goalless drought that was broken with a two-goal, three-point game against the
Seattle Kraken on 22 April. Eriksson Ek finished the regular season with a career-high 26 goals and 23 assists for 49 points Eriksson Ek played an integral role in the Wild's 6–2 win over the Blues in Game 2 as he scored two goals and added one assist. He finished the series with a career-high three goals and two assists over six games and was one of only two Wild players to score over one goal. His efforts were also recognized by the
Professional Hockey Writers' Association as he placed seventh in
Frank J. Selke Trophy voting as the NHL's best defensive forward. Injuries to Foligno and Greenway resulted in the GREEF line being split up for the first month of the
2022–23 season. Although Eriksson Ek and Foligno started playing alongside winger
Ryan Reaves in late-November, the GREEF line was shortly thereafter reunited once Greenway was healthy. At the end of December, the Wild had maintained a 21–13–2 record and Eriksson Ek was one of only four Wild players with over 20 points on the season. He then started the month of February with three goals and five points over a five-game point streak. After blocking a shot during a game against the
Pittsburgh Penguins on 6 April, Eriksson Ek missed the final four games of the regular season and the first two games of the
2023 Stanley Cup playoffs. He returned for Game 3 against the
Dallas Stars but was limited to only 19 seconds before being pulled. It was later revealed that he had suffered a fractured fibula and required surgery. Eriksson Ek began the
2023–24 season strong by tallying eight goals and 14 points to lead the team in scoring. However, the Wild began the season with one of their worst starts in franchise history as they went 5–10–4 over their first 20 games. On 10 November, during a game against the
Buffalo Sabres, Eriksson Ek became the 11th player in franchise history to score 100 goals for the team. On 19 February, Kaprizov and Eriksson Ek scored hat tricks in the third period to lift the Wild 10–7 over the
Vancouver Canucks. As a result of their hat-tricks, they helped set a new team record for most goals in a game and matched the franchise record for points in a game. ==International play==