The sports world can be a cruel and nasty place. Aaron Ekblad is the longest-tenured player on the Florida Panthers, sticking with them through the lean years to finally achieve success and win the Stanley Cup this past season. Ekblad's Stanley Cup hangover wasn't over at the end of June before rumors that he was on the radar for a move. The former exceptional-status player in the Ontario Hockey League is in the last year of a $7.5 million cap hit. However, the Panthers want to let him go a year early.
It's understandable for the Panthers. Ekblad's been an intense competitor for them, but he does get hurt too often, and his play suffered since entering the league. Eklbad will still give whichever team he goes to success, and the teams listed above are desperate for talent, but the Panthers are in a salary cap crunch. They already had to let Brandon Montour walk to the Seattle Kraken to make room to sign Sam Reinhart.
The Panthers are still over the salary cap if the season begins tomorrow, and getting rid of Ekblad's salary would be a big help. The loss of Ekblad would hurt the Panthers, but with all their pending free agents next season, they probably won't be able to re-sign him. The Panthers' best interest will be to get some assets for Ekblad while they still can.
San Jose Sharks go all-in with Aaron Ekblad
What's stopping the San Jose Sharks from trading for Ekblad and signing him to a contract extension? The Sharks blueline is a skeleton crew consisting of seven defensemen who would be lucky to get on the third pair of a contending team. The Sharks are a rebuilding team, so their poor defense is understandable, but they also don't have many coming through the pipeline.
It wouldn't be in the best interest of his development, so he will likely return to the OHL, but their first-round draft pick Sam Dickinson could easily crack this lineup in the fall. The Sharks are ready to contend in a few years, but they don't have any defensemen currently on their roster who will be part of that contending team other than possibly Mario Ferraro.
Aaron Ekblad would bring a winning pedigree to mentor the prospects around him and help build a successful team. It'd be a hard sell to get Ekblad to buy in for a rebuilding team after what he's gone through for the last ten years with the Panthers, but he may be willing to go through the same process to win it again with the Sharks one day.
The Detroit Red Wings need a star defenseman
The Red Wings are currently dealing with a long-term contract for Moritz Seider. The German-born blueliner has been a steady presence for the Red Wings since coming to North America, but the pieces around him are suspect. Ben Chiarot and Justin Holl are the next-best defensemen on the roster. Their low cap hits are why the Red Wings have $20 million in cap, but Steve Yzerman will soon need to spend big to upgrade his defense.
The Red Wings aren't far from being a contending team, and they now have four goaltenders under contract to try and figure out why they can't keep the puck out of their net. The move seems poor for Yzerman, as most of his problems would vanish with the acquisition of Ekblad.
The Red Wings have three defensemen, Olli Maatta, Jeff Petry, and William Lagesson, going to unrestricted free agency next season. It'd be wise of the Red Wings to acquire and sign Ekblad and head into next offseason with Ekblad, Seider, Chiarot, and Holl. They could then piece together the rest of their defensive group through free agency or from within with Axel Sandin-Pellikka, Simon Edvinsson, and William Wallinder.
St. Louis Blues need star power
You may wonder why the Blues would need a defenseman when they have Justin Faulk, Torey Krug, Colton Parayko, and Nick Leddy under contract. They also recently signed Ryan Suter to help boost the group, and nine defensemen are currently under contract. The Panthers may show interest in taking one or two of those defensemen off their hands to help bolster their depth at a cheaper price point.
The acquisition of Ekblad would give the Blues a star on their blue line, as none of their current blueliners are on that level. A collective group of Ekblad, Suter, Faulk, Krug, Parayko, and Leddy would be an above-average lineup, despite the memes it would create that it'd have been a good defense core in 2018. They are in a weird in-between spot where they have too much talent to go full rebuild but also have holes they need to fill to be a playoff team. Aaron Ekblad will fill one of those holes for the Blues.
Follow Us
Subscribe
