HIGHLIGHTS
- Aaron Ekblad signed an eight-year, $48.8 million deal with the Panthers this offseason
- While many saw it as a discount, Ekblad chose to stay due to a chance at the three-peat
- Read below to see his full comments
The Florida Panthers’ front office did some good business this summer, managing to re-sign Aaron Ekblad, Brad Marchand, and Sam Bennett.
Ekblad’s eight-year, $48.8 million extension raised some eyebrows, considering his AAV is actually less than the deal he signed in 2016. But the veteran chose to take a discount due to the fact that Florida has the most stacked roster in the NHL, and for the opportunity to win a third straight Stanley Cup in a place that feels like home.
Via RG’s DJ Siddiqi:
“Obviously you want to play for a winner, and when you have this many good players and such a tight group of guys, and we’ve been doing it for together for so long,” said Ekblad to RG. “Even our wives all love each other. Guys are having kids, we’re going to grow up together, and their kids are going to grow up together and hopefully my kids one day. It’s a family aspect. It’s home where the heart is type of thing. A place is only as good as the people in it and we have great people.”
Ekblad has been with the Panthers his entire career. They drafted him first overall in 2014 and since then, he’s proceeded to solidify himself as a core piece for the defending champions and one of the best defencemen in the entire league.
The 29-year-old revealed that he went to the Bahamas with Bennett and Marchand before they all inked their new contracts. He left the negotiations up to his agent, but Ekblad made it clear South Florida is where he wanted to be:
“We were in contact, we went to the Bahamas together,” says Ekblad. “Obviously we had conversations about what could or may happen, but at the end of the day, I think a lot of us just left it up to our agents to figure it out. We give them instructions, and they kind of handle the gist of it at least. That’s how I felt, personally. I didn’t want to get too involved with the negotiation.”
Ekblad also took Lord Stanley back to his hometown of Barrie, Ontario, this week. Florida has a realistic shot at the three-peat, but they will need to get by without Matthew Tkachuk for the first few months of the season, who just underwent surgery.
