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Panthers’ Aaron Ekblad Down But Not Out for Season

Aaron Ekblad has been placed on LTIR for the Florida Panthers. He’s not out for the season, but the team is in a tough spot.

Numerous reports, including ones from the Florida Panthers organization, note that defenseman Aaron Ekblad is going to miss a chunk of the season after being placed on LTIR with a lower-body injury. The news is not good, but Panthers’ GM Bill Zito said that Ekblad did not suffer a season-ending injury and his absence looks to be more short-term. Zito wouldn’t (or couldn’t) give a more detailed timeline.

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff adds, ”…Ekblad is not expected to be out long enough to allow the Panthers to go shopping to replace him on the cap.” This puts the Panthers in a bit of a sticky spot as their top defender has gone down, they moved their next-best blueliner (MacKenzie Weegar) to the Calgary Flames in a trade to land Matthew Tkachuk and the team isn’t exactly overflowing with high-quality talent on the blue line

Bradon Montour suffered a bit of an injury, and Lucas Carlsson and Matt Kiersted have both been brought up from the AHL, with the latter only activated from the season-opening injured reserve yesterday.

Aaron Ekblad Florida Panthers injury

Ekblad was sixth in Norris Trophy voting last season after scoring 15 goals and 57 points in 61 games. That said, injuries have been a huge concern for the player over the course of his NHL career. He’s missed numerous games since he joined the league in 2014-15.

One interesting development from all of this is that Zito said the cap-crunched Panthers team will try to find a way to add veteran center Eric Staal to the roster. Staal was in Florida on a PTO, but the franchise didn’t have the salary room to give him a contract and join his younger brother Marc Staal, a defenseman, who is in his first year with the Panthers.

The earliest Ekblad could be activated off LTIR is Nov. 12.

Next: Colorado Avalanche Lose Gabriel Landeskog for 12 Weeks

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