Ekblad perseveres, earns trip to Stanley Cup Final with Panthers

LAS VEGAS -- Aaron Ekblad had been through his share of adversity during his nine seasons with the Florida Panthers.

So, the defenseman will understandably experience feelings of appreciation -- but not yet satisfaction -- when he steps on the ice for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday (8 p.m. ET; TNT, TBS, truTV, CBC, SN, TVAS).

"It's just been incredible," Ekblad said Friday at Stanley Cup Final Media Day. "A lot of ups and downs, and it's been tough at some points. You don't know what's going to happen and you can't see the future and you, obviously, can't see this situation coming, but we're here and we're doing it and it's been a great turnaround."

Only center Aleksander Barkov, who arrived a year earlier, has a longer tenure with Florida than Ekblad, who was selected with the No. 1 pick in the 2014 NHL Draft. Together they've gone through three general managers (Dale Tallon, Tom Rowe and Bill Zito), and six coaches (Gerard Gallant, Rowe, Bob Boughner, Joel Quenneville, Andrew Brunette and Paul Maurice) and the accompanying changes in philosophies.

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The Panthers qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs once in Ekblad's first five seasons and didn't win a series until they defeated the Washington Capitals in the Eastern Conference First Round last season. But it's suddenly all come together this spring.

After the Panthers snuck into the playoffs as the second wild card in the East, they knocked off three of the top four teams in the NHL in points during the regular season in the Boston Bruins (first), Toronto Maple Leafs (fourth) and Carolina Hurricanes (second) to reach the Cup Final for the second time in their history and first time since 1996.

"You learn a lot, right?" Ekblad said. "When you have a lot of people and a lot of messages, you kind of see a lot and you learn a lot. You understand what works and what doesn't. Obviously, it's working right now for us, so I'm just pretty happy with that and have a lot of experience to lean on in certain situations.

"And getting this far and building that experience has been really cool, too."

Ekblad's road from winner of the Calder Trophy as the NHL's top rookie in 2014-15 when he was 19 years old to his first Cup Final appearance at 27 has had nearly as many twists. He left the ice on a stretcher after fracturing his left leg at the Dallas Stars on March 28, 2021, and had season-ending surgery the following day.

Ekblad returned last season to set an NHL career high with 57 points (15 goals, 42 assists) in 61 games. He was garnering attention as a candidate for the Norris Trophy as the League's top defenseman before injuring his right knee, causing him to miss the final 21 regular-season games before he returned for the playoffs.

Ekblad ended up on long-term injured reserve again three games into this season because of a lower-body injury. He missed 11 games before returning and having a solid season in Florida's top pair alongside Gustav Forsling, getting 38 points (14 goals, 24 assists) in 71 games. He has six points (one goal, five assists) and is third on the Panthers in averaging 24:37 in ice time in 15 playoff games.

"It's amazing," Barkov said. "I don't think anybody would've given up, but the way he always comes back after those injuries and facing adversity, he comes back and he's like even stronger than he was before. It means a lot. It means he wants to be better, and he wants to win."

Ekblad acknowledged there have been some difficult days the past three seasons because of his injuries, but this postseason run has been a nice payoff.

"No doubt, it's been tough," he said. "It's been really tough, but it's bittersweet with all the hard work and rehabbing and doing what I've had to do to put myself in a position to be successful. Good seasons, bad seasons, it's been great finding a way to come back and play hard."

Through it all, Ekblad has become part of the Panthers' fabric. Ekblad, Barkov, forward Eetu Luostarinen and goalies Sergei Bobrovsky and Spencer Knight are the only current Panthers players who were part of the organization before Zito was hired as GM Sept. 2, 2020. A whirlwind of changes has brought in key players such as forwards Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Bennett, Sam Reinhart and Brandon Montour, but Ekblad's perseverance as one of the few mainstays has been an important part of the Panthers success story as well.

"What 'Eckie' has had to deal with with injuries is the biggest part of his evolution trying to be here," Zito said. "But I think those players on our roster who were here when I arrived … it's almost as if they have a little bit of ownership in the collective from the beginning."