'I Feel Great': Ekblad Ready to Go Following Long Rehab

SUNRISE, Fla. - Want some good news to brighten up your Wednesday?
Aaron Ekblad is ready to go.
Meeting with the media for the first time since a lower-body injury brought his 2020-21 campaign to an abrupt end in March, the Panthers star defenseman announced this morning that he's been medically cleared play, is feeling "99.9%" like his old self and is eager to hit the ice and pick up where he left off.

"I feel great," Ekblad said during the team's annual Media Day at FLA Live Arena. "I'm really excited."
Describing his rehab as "very long and grueling," the former Calder Trophy winner said he did absolutely nothing for the first two weeks after having surgery to repair his injury. From there, he continued to take it very easy until he was able to get up and start walking with crutches about six weeks into his recovery.
Starting off slow, Ekblad said he put only about 1% of his body weight on the surgically-repaired area the first time he stood up on crutches. Steadily working his strength back up, he then increased that number by roughly 3% each of the following days for about a month until he felt his mobility was in a good place.
A relentless competitor, he said watching games from the sidelines was nearly as painful as his rehab.
"It was brutal. It was gut-wrenching," said Ekblad, who serves as an alternate captain on the Panthers. "Sitting around and watching is not something I've ever done in my career. I've never had a major injury like this. It was different for me, and it wasn't fun by any means. It was a long road to recovery."
On that road, Ekblad said he received one of his biggest breakthroughs about 11 weeks into his rehab.
"When I put on my skates for the first time, however many weeks ago, that was a great feeling," he said. It was exciting because it didn't hurt very much, and I was able to do quite a bit on the very first day. That made it all the more encouraging to realize that I was going to be fine for this year."
Once he started skating again on a regular basis, Ekblad said he would hit the ice anywhere from 2-4 times a week as he each positive session pushed him harder and harder to get back up to speed.
"It was kind of autopilot at that point - rehab, skate, workout, go home," he said.
With the first on-ice practice of training camp set to get underway on Thursday, Ekblad, who has been participating in informal workouts at the Panthers IceDen for several weeks, said although he's still got some work to do, he's ready to dive headfirst back into some competitive action with his teammates.
"Not limited at all, but obviously it's not perfect [yet]," he said of his current status. "I'll continue to work on it every single day, but I'm happy with all of my progression to this point and I feel confident that I can reach the same level of play and also exceed my same level of play from last season."
If that's the case, the rest of the league could be in trouble.
At the time of his injury, Ekblad, a two-time all-star, was easily having the best season of his young career. Averaging more than 25 minutes of ice time per game, the 25-year-old ranked second in goals (11), first in power-play goals (6) and was tied for 16th in total points (22) among the league's defensemen.
Excelling at both ends of the ice, he also registered a career-high 54.04 CF% at 5-on-5.
"His attitude has been great," said MacKenzie Weegar, who had been paired with Ekblad prior to his injury. "I know for a fact he's been dialed in on getting back to 100%, and I think it's even more than that. He's more than ready. He looks phenomenal out on the ice. He's going to be a key guy for us."
Having already overcome so much to get back on the ice, Ekblad doesn't plan on slowing down now as the Panthers start to ramp up their preparations for what is shaping up to be another strong season.
"I've never been so excited for training camp or an exhibition game in my career so far," said Ekblad, smiling through his beard. "I'm really excited to get going and test all my rehab and my preparation."