Confirmed Signing with Link: [FLA] Aaron Ekblad re-signs with Panthers (8 years, $7.500M AAV)

[Albus Dumbledore]

hmm
Klingberg 7x4.25
rielly 6x5
jones 6x5.4

ekblad 8x7.5

interesting to see what trouba and lindholm get

 

[vendetta]

What happened?
This went from Confirmed to Rumored

Cant make it official til tomorrow when f.a opens

 

[biturbo19]

Personally, i would've wanted to see how he does with a bit less cushy zone starts before i started shelling out an elite defenceman contract for him. But i mean, the market the way it is for RH shooting D and the name recognition, along with the goal production he can generate, and how important he is to that team...he was gonna get paid like this sooner or later. Just avoids any unpleasantness trying to bridge a bit of a mid-tier salary for a year or two before going big.

Seems early, but he's certainly trending the right way in a big hurry, so whatever.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Great deal if true, think his play is already in line with this.

Florida is building a heckuva hockey team there.

Three strong down the middle and a franchise D-man. Love what they have put together. Not a huge Yandle fan, but I think Ekblad can finally provide cover for some of Yandle's issues and will reap the offensive complements well with his game.

 

[BatVader]

Cant make it official til tomorrow when f.a opens

Doh.... My bad

 

[McBaevid]

This is why there's a lockout every few years. Not saying he doesn't deserve it but 5 years ago only the best of the best Dmen were making that kind of money

 

[Mr Positive]

Ekblad is a rare talent. His deal doesn't set a precedent. RFA vs UFA matters less at that top echelon. I'm sure McDavid's deal will be very high as well.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

As a franchise defenseman he will be worth it. It appears to be market value as elite defensemen aside from PK are in that neighborhood.

He isn't quite there yet but he will be. He certainly took advantage. Florida gave him everything.

 

[hotpaws]

This is why there's a lockout every few years. Not saying he doesn't deserve it but 5 years ago only the best of the best Dmen were making that kind of money

5 years ago stiffs like Phaneuf were making more when taking into account the lower cap.

 

[vendetta]

Ekblad is a rare talent. His deal doesn't set a precedent. RFA vs UFA matters less at that top echelon. I'm sure McDavid's deal will be very high as well.

Yes but mcdavid will put upper echelon numbers.. ekblad hasn't come close to that yet and didn't show imorivement from year 1 to year 2... he hasn't cracked 40 points.. and isn't an absolute stud defensively yet either... I'm not saying he won't be but he hasn't shown it yet... he got 1 mil less than elite stamkos did for all 8 years of ufa while ekblad is getting 4 years rfa money at elite level d money when he hasn't even shown that yet.. this is a market value contrace for a player that is still 4 years away from ufa

 

[HanSolo]

So much for my hope that Lindholm would sign for under 6 million.

 

[Juicy Pop]

[delete]

 

[chunkylover53]

Way to much of a gamble for someone who hasn't shown he can carry the defensive load. I'd much rather have Jones and his contract lol.

 

[chunkylover53]

He might not be top-10 right now, but in a years time, he will be.

Right now, I'd say he's around top-15:

Karlsson
Doughty
Subban
Keith
Hedman
Josi
Weber
OEL
Pietrangelo
Burns
Letang
Carlson
Suter
Ekblad
McDonagh

That's my top-15 list now.

There's more than that, Vlasic, Gio, Brodie, Faulk are all better. Ekblad does not play the shutdown role in FLA.

 

[Juicy Pop]

This is why there's a lockout every few years. Not saying he doesn't deserve it but 5 years ago only the best of the best Dmen were making that kind of money

If the issue was anywhere near that simple, then it wouldn't even be a problem.

 

[longchange]

Hmm it appears Ekblad got the best of both worlds on this one...I didn't expect it would be more than 8 x 6.5. Well good for him, I hope he keeps trending in the right direction.

 

[The Gongshow]

Hedman gonna get 8-8.5 now, was hoping he'd settle for 7-7.7 but now this

 

[ottawa]

That's a lot...knowing him, he'll be well worth it. I don't see how a bridge deal would be a bad idea though, sign him 2 years later if he keeps it up...worst comes to worst you pay him 8.5m in a couple years. He's still a little unproven imo

 

[PetterssonSimp]

End of this season coming people will be like damn I wish I had the Panthers defence. Holy get him a taste of the playoffs and he was set. Yup I'd take 8 years to stay with a team on the rise

 

[longchange]

There's more than that, Vlasic, Gio, Brodie, Faulk are all better. Ekblad does not play the shutdown role in FLA.

Yup definitely some omissions on that list...Gio, Brodie, Faulk, Vlasic, Byfuglien, Klingberg are ahead of him right now imo. He's competing with guys like Jones, Lindholm, Rielly, Ekholm etc to be a permanent fixture in the top 20.

 

[SmellOfVictory]

Good deal. This is already a steal even at this age.

You don't call a contract a steal when it would make someone the 5th highest paid dman in the league. This isn't a dman version of Crosby we're talking about.

 

[chunkylover53]

You don't call a contract a steal when it would make someone the 5th highest paid dman in the league. This isn't a dman version of Crosby we're talking about.

Granted those contracts were signed years ago, so contract inflation and all, but still I'm not even sure he's better than the likes of Lindholm or Rielly right now. It's a gamble for potential essentially.

 

[FrolikFan67]

idk why people compare this contract to other dmen who signed their contracts years ago when the cap was lower. this is the going rate for a #1 d (if not necessarily now, then in just a year or two), especially given his age and what he's been able to accomplish already. and to lock him up for another 8yrs till he's 29 and taking up several ufa years.

theres at least, at least 10-15 d who, if they were a free agent now or 1yr away and got a new contract, would make 7.5per at bare minimum. 7.5per for him is a perfect fair number, like literally right there in the middle of what would be ideal. 20, as good as he is, around for 9 more full years, 7.5 is very fair and I'm super excited to have him locked up for the next 9yrs and yandle for the next 7yrs, that incredible to have 2 top line d and both locked up longterm. will make constructing the team easier when you already have your cornerstone pieces locked up longterm, which also include our forwards like barkov for the next 6yrs, bjugstad for the next 5yrs, and trocheck about to get a contract of about 5-6yrs probably.

 

[SelltheTeamFrancesco]

In 5 years it will be a steal. If I were him I would have taken6 mil bridge for 2 or 3 years then cashed out for 10+

 

[billybudd]

That's going to look real nice in about 18 months.