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The Florida Panthers are the two-time defending Stanley Cup Champions, but they had a lot of offseason questions to answer. They figured out the biggest one early on, signing Sam Bennett to an eight-year, $64 million deal. But the Panthers still needed to give Aaron Ekblad a new contract. They got that done on the eve of free agency, locking him in for eight years and $48.8 million, per Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
“Being told Aaron Ekblad is staying in Florida,” Friedman reported. He followed that up, “Sounds like this is going to be around 8 x $6.1M-ish.”
Ekblad's cap hit is going to decrease from last year, going from $7.5 million to $6.1 million. But he made it clear during the postseason that he wanted to stay in Florida. This contract will run through his age 37 season, which would mark his 19th season in the NHL and in Florida, assuming he does not get traded.
The Panthers' last big unrestricted free agent on the market is Brad Marchand. After trading for the Bruins' captain, they plugged him into the third line, and he was a perfect fit. He finished second in Conn Smythe Trophy voting, only behind Bennett. According to CapWages, they have $4.9 million in cap space left. If Marchand is willing to take a discount, just like Bennett and Ekblad did, they could fit them all under the cap.
Ekblad was suspended for 20 games this season due to a performance-enhancing drug test. Slightly before that happened, the Panthers traded for Seth Jones, a younger righty defenseman. Many thought that those two variables would lead to the end of Ekblad's time in Florida. But because he was willing to take a pay cut, he is back.
Marchand is the next big domino to fall for the Panthers. Will he stay in Florida? Or will he head to Utah or Toronto?
