Is Aaron Ekblad Playing His Final Shifts With The Florida Panthers?

As the Florida Panthers try and close out the Stanley Cup final Tuesday night and claim their second straight championship, there’s a mountainous task for GM Bill Zito after this week.

The Panthers have only $19 million in salary cap space to spend this summer, with UFA star forwards Brad Marchand and Sam Bennett in need of new contracts and with Florida needing a backup goalie behind Sergei Bobrovsky. That cap space will evaporate very quickly.

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One pending Panthers UFA veteran also needing a contract extension – star defenseman Aaron Ekblad – could be the core component who gets squeezed out has to head elsewhere in free agency.

A simple mathematical evaluation tells you it’s highly unlikely the Panthers can retain Bennett, Marchand and Ekblad. One of the three has to go, or at least two of them have to take massive discounts. And if you look at the moves Zito has made, it’s probable that Ekblad – by no fault of his own – is playing on borrowed time with Florida.

Zito acquired right-hand D-man Seth Jones this season from the Chicago Blackhawks, which retained $2.5 million of his $9.5-million cap hit. He only carries a $7-million cap hit on the Panthers for the next five years, which makes him a better bargain than Ekblad will turn out to be next year and beyond.

With defensemen Jones, Gustav Forsling, Niko Mikkola and Dmitry Kulikov all under contract for next season, the right-handed Ekblad is shaping up to be a luxury the Panthers can no longer afford.

It’s a shame that Ekblad is likely to be the odd man out. The 29-year-old is in his prime, and other than his suspension for violating the terms of the NHL and NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program, Ekblad has been a solid player for Florida. He’s logged 732 regular-season games in 11 NHL seasons, and he’s the longest-tenured defenseman in Panthers history. By the time he retires, he’s going to be recognized as an all-time great for Florida.

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Unfortunately, all the accolades coming his way likely won’t prevent him from being moved. Ekblad’s current $ 7.5-million salary makes it obvious that he’s going to get (and deserve) a raise this summer, and a raise is too rich for the Panthers.

It’s not like Zito’s afraid of parting ways with Panthers defensemen, either.

Whether it’s Brandon Montour or MacKenzie Weegar, Zito has demonstrated that he’s very capable of cutting ties with top blueliners for cap reasons or to acquire an upgrade in a trade. It’s that type of cold-blooded approach to salary cap management that’s turned the Panthers into a modern-day powerhouse.

Like every NHL GM, Zito has to balance the needs of the moment with the needs of the long term. The moment Zito acquired Jones to lead the blueline through the 2029-30 season, the clock was ticking on Ekblad’s time in Florida. The Panthers were able to thrive this post-season with two top-end right-handed defensemen, like they did last year with Ekblad and Montour, but that comes at a cost.

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There’s still a chance that Zito decides to sign only one of Marchand or Bennett and finds a way to hang onto Ekblad, but the market for a top defenseman like Ekblad is going to bump his asking price into a strata that’s too expensive for the Panthers to match.

So whether the Stanley Cup final against the Edmonton Oilers ends on Tuesday or Friday, it may be Ekblad’s final game action with Florida. Time will tell if he makes the most of it.

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