Key Takeaways
- Aaron Ekblad re-signed with the Florida Panthers this offseason, inking a $48.8 million deal across eight years.
- The defenceman spoke to RG and revealed the chance to three-peat was exactly what sold him on staying with the defending Stanley Cup champions.
- "Obviously you want to play for a winner, and when you have this many good players and such a tight group of guys, and we've been doing it for together for so long," Ekblad said.
Aaron Ekblad after winning the Stanley Cup (Photo by Mike Carlson/Getty Images)
Florida Panthers star Aaron Ekblad will continue his long career with the only team he's ever known.
Ekblad was selected No. 1 overall by the franchise in the 2014 NHL Draft and has played the second-most games (732) in franchise history behind Aleksander Barkov. The 29-year-old defenceman re-upped with the franchise on an eight-year, $48.8 million deal in the offseason. Many viewed it as a discount for the Panthers, considering his average annual value is only $6.1 million. The contract is actually less than the eight-year, $60 million deal he inked during the 2016 offseason.
The chance to three-peat and continue winning Stanley Cups with the most stacked in the NHL is ultimately what sold Ekblad on returning to the only franchise he's ever known.
"Obviously you want to play for a winner, and when you have this many good players and such a tight group of guys, and we've been doing it for together for so long," says Ekblad in a one-on-one interview with RG while doing a public event at a local Huey Magoo's. "Even our wives all love each other. Guys are having kids, we're going to grow up together, and their kids are going to grow up together and hopefully my kids one day. It's a family aspect. It's home where the heart is type of thing. A place is only as good as the people in it and we have great people."
Ekblad was due to hit free agency along with two other key Panthers players in Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand. However, all three ultimately re-upped with the defending Stanley Cup champs. Bennett re-signed for eight years and $64 million while Marchand re-signed for six years and $31.5 million.
The re-signing of all three players along with the rest of the Panthers' core — Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Sergei Bobrovsky, and Sam Reinhart — ensures that Florida will be the Stanley Cup favorites next season.
The Panthers' second-longest tenured player details how he was in contact with Bennett and Marchand prior to re-signing.
"We were in contact, we went to the Bahamas together," says Ekblad. "Obviously we had conversations about what could or may happen, but at the end of the day, I think a lot of us just left it up to our agents to figure it out. We give them instructions, and they kind of handle the gist of it at least. That's how I felt, personally. I didn't want to get too involved with the negotiation."
Ekblad says the first Stanley Cup will always be the "most special" when asked to compare it to the first one.
"The first one truly will always be the most special," says Ekblad. "That's just kind of how it is. But it was really nice to see all the guys that hadn't won, win a cup this year."
The former Calder Memorial Trophy winner says the most notable thing he did with the Cup so far is after the first win when he celebrated with it in Matthew Tkachuk's pool.
"I took it for a swim, honestly, actually, after the first cup, after the first win in Matthew Tkachuk's pool," says Ekblad. "That was pretty fun. I have a picture of that and one that I don't think I'm allowed to share or really even tell people about. But that was a special night, and I hadn't slept at that point. It was like five or six AM taking a Stanley Cup for a swim in a pool."
While re-quoting Marchand's line of they're going to have to "kick him out of the league" before he retires, Ekblad echoes a similar sentiment when asked if he'll end his career with the Panthers.
"I'm under contract for eight years," says Ekblad. "Hopefully they don't get tired of me. I heard Marchand say it in an interview the other day, that they're going to have to kick him out of the league, and they'll be having to do the same thing with me."
