The Florida Panthers will be without their No. 1 defenseman for a while. The team announced that Aaron Ekblad has been placed on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) after he suffered an injury in Monday night’s loss to the Boston Bruins.
Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Panthers general manager Bill Zito did say that Ekblad’s injury is not of the season-ending variety. The team expects to have Ekblad back in the lineup relatively soon, but he will have to miss at least 10 games and 24 days after going on LTIR.
“Not happy about it,” Zito said, via NHL.com. “And obviously we’re concerned for him as a person first, but I mean, he’ll be back. It’s not a season-ending thing. We have every reason to believe he’ll be back at 100 percent. This is something that just happens in the normal course.”
The No. 1 overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, Ekblad has been an anchor on the Panthers’ blue line since his rookie season. Last year, Ekblad posted 57 points and finished sixth in Norris Trophy voting while eating some of the toughest minutes on the team.
Ekblad’s presence will be missed on defense, especially after the Panthers traded MacKenzie Weegar to the Calgary Flames in the offseason as part of the trade for Matthew Tkachuk. Players like Gustav Forsling and Radko Gudas will be relied upon more heavily while Ekblad is on the mend.
