It was announced early Monday evening that Team North America and Florida Panthers‘ defenceman Aaron Ekblad would not be playing Team North America’s World Cup of Hockey match-up against Team Russia. When the news first broke, Ekblad was described as having an “upper-body” injury and that was that, but it has been revealed that he suffered a minor concussion. The injury occurred in Sunday’s game in which Team North America squared off against Team Finland. Toronto Maple Leafs and Finnish forward Leo Komarov shoved Ekblad, sending him into the boards.
#TeamNA defenceman Aaron Ekblad will not dress tonight due to an upper body injury. Jacob Trouba draws into the lineup. #WCH2016
— Team North America (@TeamNA_WCH) September 19, 2016
In place of Ekblad, Team North America put Winnipeg Jets defenceman Jacob Trouba in on the blue line. The loss of Ekblad is costly for the young and exciting North American squad. Ekblad was playing some shutdown defence, logging over 23 minutes, three hits, and a blocked shot in Sunday’s 4-1 victory over Finland. Trouba, however, is a fine replacement, being able to play on both the power-play and penalty kill.
Via Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston, Team North America General Manager Peter Chiarelli has labeled Aaron Ekblad as “day-to-day”. It is still unaware, however, if Ekblad will return to the tournament or head back to Florida to meet with Panthers team doctors.
Aaron Ekblad is "day-to-day," Team North America GM Peter Chiarelli says on @Sportsnet.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) September 20, 2016
This past season in Florida, the 20 year old defenceman tallied 15 goals and 21 assists in 78 total games played and was considered one of the Panthers top defenceman, averaging 21:41 of ice time per game. Ekblad won the Calder Memorial Trophy in 2014-2015 as the National Hockey League’s top rookie. This past season, he finished 16th in Norris Trophy voting as the League’s top defenceman. At the 2015 World Championships, Ekblad was a member of Team Canada, where he scored four goals and addrd three assists in Canada’s 10-0 championship winning run. On top of it all, Ekblad just recently signed an eight year, $60 million contract extension with the Florida Panthers. The 20 year old is full of talent and has a long future ahead of him.
