SUNRISE, Florida. – Whether it was planned or not, Aaron Ekblad being the first player to speak at the Florida Panthers virtual media day felt like a real way to kick off the new season.
With all the hype and attention surrounding the Panthers, Ekblad seems almost the forgotten guy.
Sasha Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau are reaching superstar levels and receiving reasonably adequate recognition (but still not nearly enough in my opinion).
Sam Bennett’s ridiculous start with the Panthers last season and the team’s takeover of Sam Reinhart later this summer are on all the ice hockey radar out there too.
And let’s not forget that future Hall of Famer Joe Thornton decided that signing with Florida would give him the best chance of winning a Stanley Cup that season. This sentence alone must be difficult to digest for many of our friends north of the border.
But unfortunately, not much is said about Ekblad.
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His 2020-21 season, as you will recall, was canceled in late March when he broke his lower leg during a street game in Dallas.
At the time, Ekblad was in the middle of his best year as a professional.
His name couldn’t be mentioned without the 25-year-old being a favorite for the Norris Trophy, which goes to the NHL’s best defender every season.
He was on the right track for a high-goal career, evolving as a power play specialist while evolving as one of the best defenders in the game.
All of that, and the Panthers looked better than ever in his career. Florida not only appeared to be a suspension for a playoff spot, but was also battling for a possible division crown.
Then Ekbald’s season was suddenly over and he joined us as a spectator, waiting eagerly and hoping that the team would enjoy this illusory playoff success.
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“It was brutal. It was heartbreaking, ”he said. “Sitting around and watching is something I’ve never done in my career. I’ve never had an injury this big. “
The injury itself was difficult to observe, as was the fact that Ekblad’s spectacular season was over.
What could he have achieved and what heights could the team have achieved had he not been injured?
Ekblad didn’t shy away from admitting that sitting out and watching the Panthers playoff push and then knocking out the first round only fueled his fire.
“I’m very hungry and excited,” he said. “I missed playing with a lot of the new pieces we bought last year and I’m really looking forward to playing with these guys as well as the guys we recorded over the summer.”
Ekblad spent the off-season rehabilitating his injury and now he’s back, eager to pick up where he left off and ready to help this Panthers team reach their ultimate potential.
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While he wouldn’t go so far as to say that he is 100 percent back to normal (99.9 percent was as high as he wanted), Ekblad made it clear he was nibbling at it to get back on the ice with his teammate .
“I’ve never looked forward to a training camp or an exhibition game so much in my career,” he said on Wednesday. “I’m really looking forward to getting started and really testing my entire rehab and preparation.”
Ekblad has been training with various teammates at Ice Den in Coral Springs for several weeks in order to prepare as best as possible for the start of camp on Thursday.
Another player who has skated a lot in Ice Den lately is Panther’s captain Sasha Barkov.
He returned to South Florida earlier this month after spending his off-season in Finland as he always does.
The big topic around Barkov in the last few months has been a possible contract extension.
Barkov’s contract status remains unchanged, with one year remaining at $ 5.9 million.
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His next deal will get him quite a bit more.
During the summer, Barkov’s agent Todd Diamond and Panther’s GM Bill Zito had initial talks about a contract extension, and it wasn’t until early September that sources told Local 10 News that both sides were optimistic that an agreement would eventually be reached.
Barkov won’t be a free agent until next summer, so there’s plenty of time to clear up the details of a new deal.
During Wednesday’s virtual media day, Barkov indicated that steps are being taken in the right direction.
“I think we are sure to make some progress,” he said. “Everything is good.”
Barkov did not want to elaborate on the discussions and said he would leave it up to his people.
The 26-year-old is starting his ninth season in the NHL. They were all with the Panthers, the team that drafted him to second overall in 2013.
South Florida is the only place in North America Barkov called home, and he was asked if he would play in a Panthers sweater his entire career.
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“Right now, all I’m thinking about is playing for the Florida Panthers,” he said. “I love to play here, I love what we have built here.”
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE MEDIA DAY
The 2021-22 season will be Joe Thornton’s 24th in the NHL, spanning eight years in Boston, 15 in San Jose, and then the final season with the Maple Leafs.
Needless to say, Thornton went through more than a couple of media days.
He admitted on Wednesday that he didn’t really feel the need to focus on the preparations, and that actually makes a lot of sense.
There aren’t a lot of questions to surprise Thornton, and the way I deal with my colleagues and me in the South Florida media is not exactly the same as the cricket he received during his game in Boston or Toronto.
Therefore, he did not hesitate to explain his preparations for the media day on request.
“Just get up and do it, it’s really no big deal now,” he said. “Now I just comb my beard and go.”
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Sam Reinhart appeared for his Media Day Zoom in a brand new Panthers No. 13 jersey answering a question that surely would have been asked during the Zoom call.
That’s because his Panthers number has not yet been released and it was a mystery on the way to training camp.
Reinhart wore the number 23 throughout his career, long before he made it into the NHL. This number was worn by his father Paul Reinhart, who played 11 seasons in the NHL and was known as one of the better defenders of the time.
After being traded to Florida that summer, Reinhart said he had no intention of asking Carter Verhaeghe for the number, who was already wearing the number 23 for the Panthers.
Regarding his new jersey number, Reinhart said on Wednesday that he has “always loved the number 13” and he understands that wearing that particular number is a big deal in South Florida.
“Following a former club legend with Mark Pysyk who wore the number in front of me is pretty exciting to have that opportunity for yourself,” said Reinhart with a laugh.
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One of the absolute best guys to come through the Panthers locker room over the years, Pysyk was a teammate of Reinhart in Buffalo before Pysyk was acquired by Florida trade in 2016.
Reinhart admitted that he “absolutely” understood the weight that came with wearing Dan Marino’s old number, even if it was on a different team in a different sport.
But still … respect for the Prius.
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