Hockey season is upon us, and things are happening every day. Unexpected teams remain undefeated, and some have made history with losing streaks. There are so many great trends and awesome storylines to begin the year. But today we focus on injury news. Florida Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad is out with a lower-body injury and has been put on long-term injury reserve.
#Panthers have recalled Carlsson and Kiersted from the AHL. Prior to the recalls, the club only had $83,875 in space in their LTI Salary pool.
This would suggest that the club has placed Aaron Ekblad on LTIR giving them an additional $7.5M in LTI relief.https://t.co/hGAUSg0ZBn
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) October 19, 2022
Aaron Ekblad To Miss Time Once Again
For the second season in a row, Florida Panthers defenceman Aaron Ekblad goes down with an injury. Last season he suffered a brutal lower-body injury that ruled him out for 12 weeks. He watched his team play playoff hockey while he sat on the ninth floor. After suffering a lower-body injury against the Boston Bruins, moving him to long-term injury reserve is a tough pill to swallow.
The Impact On The Club
Losing to the Bruins is one thing, losing Ekblad is a bigger problem. When he is healthy, Ekblad is a Norris Trophy calibre defenceman. Unfortunately, he has had to miss multiple months with an injury that’s kept him off the ice. This year appears to be the same way.
The team is already without Brandon Montour (out with an upper-body injury) and they parted ways with Mackenzie Weegar. Things on the back end are looking thin. As it currently stands, Radko Gudas, Marc Staal, Josh Mahura and Forsling are their top four guys. Of course, they made call-ups from their affiliate Charlotte Checkers, but those guys are not Ekblad.
Closing Thoughts
Ekblad going on LTIR is not good news for the team. Given the depth on the back end, it is a major blow. Granted, they are still deep up front and can score plenty. Goaltending will be counted on heavily and the big guns up front will as well. It’s brutal news for a guy who has so much good hockey in the tank and is the franchise defenceman. It will be interesting to see if the Panthers swing a trade to get help on the back end, now with some added short-term cap flexibility.
Main Photo:
Embed from Getty Images
