The 2-time defending Stanley Cup-champion Florida Panthers are holding defenseman Aaron Ekblad, signing him to an eight-year, $48.8 million contract extension on Monday, league sources told The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun.
The contract carries a median annual worth of $6.1 million, a steep low cost in comparison with what Ekblad presumably would have fetched as an unrestricted free agent beginning Tuesday. The franchise chief in all fundamental classes amongst blueliners, Ekblad was coming off an eight-year take care of a $7.5 million AAV.
Ekblad, 29, was thought of the highest defenseman available on the market due to his skill to play in all conditions and log heavy minutes as a right-handed shot and top-pairing presence. He had spent his first 11 seasons with the Panthers and wished to remain, saying firstly of the Stanley Cup Ultimate, “I dwell and breathe for the Florida Panthers. I bleed for the Florida Panthers. I’ve given my physique and all the pieces to this staff. I need to hold doing it ceaselessly, for so long as they’ll let me hold coming to the rink.”
say it with me everybody: Aaron Ekblad took a hometown low cost to stick with a championship-caliber roster and change into part of a dynasty pic.twitter.com/VKoC2QvrXf
— Shayna (@shaynagoldman_) June 30, 2025
Drafted because the No. 1 total decide in 2014, Ekblad is the Panthers’ all-time chief in objectives (118), assists (262), factors (380) and video games performed (732) amongst defensemen, with the final class rating second to Aleksander Barkov amongst all gamers. Ekblad received the Calder Trophy because the league’s prime rookie in 2014-15 and has a cumulative plus-96 score in even-strength play, with simply two seasons during which he completed as a minus participant.
Some questions include Ekblad, most notably concerning his skill to play an entire season, as he has missed 110 video games over the past 5 common seasons. He was comparatively wholesome in 2024-25 however needed to serve a 20-game suspension — the final 18 regular-season video games and the primary two within the playoffs — for what he mentioned was mistakenly taking a banned substance that violated the league’s performance-enhancing drug coverage.
Ekblad was suspended once more for 2 playoff video games after elbowing Tampa Bay’s Brandon Hagel within the first spherical. Nonetheless, he performed a big position within the Panthers’ profitable run to a second straight Cup. He completed with 4 objectives and 9 assists in 19 playoff video games, together with his 13 factors trailing solely Edmonton’s Evan Bouchard and Dallas’s Thomas Harley in playoff scoring amongst defensemen.
TSN’s Bob McKenzie was the primary to report that the Panthers and Ekblad had been nearing completion on a long-term deal. It’s one other little bit of spectacular work by Florida basic supervisor Invoice Zito to maintain the band collectively and take a run at a three-peat. Zito signed Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam Bennett to an eight-year extension final week.
(Photograph: Steph Chambers / Getty Pictures)
