The No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, Ekblad had been, up until this point, nothing short of spectacular since entering the league as an 18-year-old in 2014-15. He was named to the All-Star Game in each of his first two seasons and took home the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie in 2015.
Development isn't always linear, even for a player with Ekblad's remarkable pedigree. There were bound to be at least a few bumps on the road to stardom. As Ekblad looked for answers in his third NHL season, he sought out the advice of Panthers General Manager Dale Tallon.
"My game turned right around," said Ekblad, who finished his third NHL season with 21 points (10-11-21) in 68 games, of Tallon's input. "I sat in Dale Tallon's office. We had a long chat about a lot of things, more or less just how I was playing and how I was feeling mentally… I was able to work through all of that. In within probably two games I noticed the difference.
"It was amazing to feel like you can just go do things again, break through those barriers of the mental state that hockey is. It's a mental sport. I had to break through that and I felt great after. It felt like year one and two."
With the restoration of his confidence in the second half of the season, Ekblad believes that both himself and Florida's defense are poised for quite the comeback. As the 21-year-old continues to develop into one of the game's top young talents, the Panthers' entire defensive core is also growing around him, with players like Keith Yandle and Mike Matheson also highlighting the team's formidable blue line.
"We have a lot of talent in that dressing room," said Ekblad, who spent time playing alongside both Yandle and Matheson this past season. "We have a lot of will and a lot of ability. When those two things mesh together and chemistry builds, we'll have a chance to do amazing things in this league."
"In the end, I felt that we created chemistry. We had our struggles at the start, but we ended up coming together and learning a lot from each other."
