Aaron Ekblad, too much, too fast

[BusQuets]

So everyone knows Ekblad was extended for 8 years at 7,5 mil per year. Surprisingly many on this board seemed to be fine with it. I have watched many Florida games last season and this season. I was very surprised Florida gave a contract that is that huge so fast. Even last year he was beaten to pucks and even downright made fool of. Now that's not rare for a young defensemen but the same thing has happened this year even more often and has looked even downright brutal.

Having read Florida's GDT i know there are many fans that aren't that happy with the contract. At the moment he's not defensively even close to what he's going to be paid. The biggest weakness is his skating. Blatantly speaking it's bad, not really bad but just bad especially for a guy who just made a deal like that. I don't remember a defenceman who had as bad skating as Ekblad but was given a franchise contract. He's not even close skating wise to the other young coming star defensemen like Lindholm, Ristolainen, Rielly etc. If Ekblad has to turn and defend at the same time the guy looks like old Orpik. Then there's the concussion issues that he has..


Did Florida got impatient with one good season From Ekblad even though his shortcomings were always quite clear?

Click to read more...

 

[ShootIt]

I thought they got too eager to sign him two years into his ELC.

Doesn't help that he got his head rocked again in the tournament before the season started. Dude is clearly not at 100%.

Florida was too quick on a lot of long term deals this offseason. Smith was another dude who still had a year left as well along with Huberdeau who just had surgery on his Achilles.

Tried to I guess save money if said players had another good year/postseason.

His skating is holding him back, and not sure if he has improved at all in that regard.

Stung a bit when Hedman signed his deal.

 

[PensBandwagonerNo272*]

It is a huge contract but he's a pretty low-risk young player. He's got more upside than Orpik trust me. And I'm a big Orpik fan.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

So everyone knows Ekblad was extended for 8 years at 7,5 mil per year. Surprisingly many on this board seemed to be fine with it. I have watched many Florida games last season and this season. I was very surprised Florida gave a contract that is that huge so fast. Even last year he was beaten to pucks and even downright made fool of. Now that's not rare for a young defensemen but the same thing has happened this year even more often and has looked even downright brutal.

Having read Florida's GDT i know there are many fans that aren't that happy with the contract. At the moment he's not defensively even close to what he's going to be paid. The biggest weakness is his skating. Blatantly speaking it's bad, not really bad but just bad especially for a guy who just made a deal like that. I don't remember a defenceman who had as bad skating as Ekblad but was given a franchise contract. He's not even close skating wise to the other young coming star defensemen like Lindholm, Ristolainen, Rielly etc. If Ekblad has to turn and defend at the same time the guy looks like old Orpik. Then there's the concussion issues that he has..


Did Florida got impatient with one good season From Ekblad even though his shortcomings were always quite clear?

No.

You're just drawing a broad conclusion from a tiny sample size after Ekblad got his bell rung.

 

[NyQuil]

They gambled a little bit on the fact that while he may not be worth 7.5M now, he'll be worth more than that not too far into the future.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

It is a huge contract but he's a pretty low-risk young player. He's got more upside than Orpik trust me. And I'm a big Orpik fan.

Did you just compare Ekblad to Orpik? Dude, he's already easily better than Orpik, Orpik is garbage

 

[Roo Mad Bro]

Did you just compare Ekblad to Orpik? Dude, he's already easily better than Orpik, Orpik is garbage

Did you read the OP? Guessing not because in it he compared Ekblad to Orpik when Ekblad has to turn and defend as his skating isn't that great.

 

[Claypool]

They gambled a little bit on the fact that while he may not be worth 7.5M now, he'll be worth more than that not too far into the future.

The advantage of having young, cheap players who are contributors on your team is you don't have to pay them as much as experienced vets. It's how Chicago did it when Kane and Toews did it when they were underpaid. It allowed you to spend elsewhere.

Florida isn't taking advantage of this situation.

And it isn't a "little gamble." It's a pretty big one. He'loves be the 5th highest paid defenseman in the league, which is more than Drew Doughty.

 

[PanthersHockey1]

OP whats the alternative lose your 1st overall pick?

Some 1st overalls are Mcdavid and crosby and some are yakupov.

Ekblad is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of 1st overalls.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Ekblad is a stud.. he'll come around. Wasn't a big fan of giving him that huge contract that early, but I'd trade everything including an arm and a leg to get him to Detroit.

 

[BusQuets]

OP whats the alternative lose your 1st overall pick?

Some 1st overalls are Mcdavid and crosby and some are yakupov.

Ekblad is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of 1st overalls.

I think there is something between the spectrum of paying 7,5 per 8 years and losing your player.

 

[Syckle78]

OP whats the alternative lose your 1st overall pick?

Some 1st overalls are Mcdavid and crosby and some are yakupov.

Ekblad is somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of 1st overalls.

Pretty sure there's a middle ground between paying them massively before you need to and losing them by not paying them at all. Would think that's pretty obvious.

 

[SenzZen]

The advantage of having young, cheap players who are contributors on your team is you don't have to pay them as much as experienced vets. It's how Chicago did it when Kane and Toews did it when they were underpaid. It allowed you to spend elsewhere.

Florida isn't taking advantage of this situation.

And it isn't a "little gamble." It's a pretty big one. He'loves be the 5th highest paid defenseman in the league, which is more than Drew Doughty.

For one thing, Doughty signed his contract in 2011! Really pointless to compare the two, although people do it all the time on here.

For another- Ekblad makes $925K this year.

 

[Frank Drebin]

IDK, I think the bridge deal still has its place, especially for young defensemen. Without that huge contract, Ekblad could develop quietly, now he gets noticed, and not in a good way. He's being compared, and rightly so due to the contract, to the leagues top defensemen. Lots of commas in that post.

 

[Alexander the Gr8]

Comparing Ekblad and Orpik is like comparing Seguin and Dustin Brown.

Did you read the OP? Guessing not because in it he compared Ekblad to Orpik when Ekblad has to turn and defend as his skating isn't that great.

The OP was only comparing their skating, the guy I quoted was comparing their overall games I believe. Even then, it's just a bad comparison, Ekblad isn't slow and clunky like Orpik.

 

[SK13]

For one thing, Doughty signed his contract in 2011! Really pointless to compare the two, although people do it all the time on here.

For another- Ekblad makes $925K this year.

There are a couple other factors here.

Ekblad was better in Year 2 than Doughty was. Florida is not Los Angeles. Los Angeles almost saw Doughty hold out, which is never good for a long term relationship.

I can't speak to the very recent history, but since Ekblad debuted, he's come off to me as one of the few defenseman to play like a top pairing defenseman and have all the tools to be a true, high-level #1. Most drafts don't have that player.

 

[leafsfan1234]

There are a couple other factors here.

Ekblad was better in Year 2 than Doughty was. Florida is not Los Angeles. Los Angeles almost saw Doughty hold out, which is never good for a long term relationship.

I can't speak to the very recent history, but since Ekblad debuted, he's come off to me as one of the few defenseman to play like a top pairing defenseman and have all the tools to be a true, high-level #1. Most drafts don't have that player.

Doughty put up his career high of 59 points in year 2... Ekblad's contract was way too much, Karlsson won the Norris in his contract year and he still only got a 6.5 mil deal. I don't know what Florida was thinking when they signed this deal.

 

[PanthersHockey1]

Pretty sure there's a middle ground between paying them massively before you need to and losing them by not paying them at all. Would think that's pretty obvious.

Not if you believe the net effective cost savings of locking him at cheap rate in YR 4 or 5 of his contract makes this a good deal.

If $5M is now the norm for a good defensemen what will be the norm for a really good defensemen in 4 years time? $8M?

I'm more concerned with Ekblad the player compared to Ekblad the contract.

For those of us who watch him on a nightly basis there are a lot of areas he needs to work on to be considered great.

 

[Ishdul]

Doughty put up his career high of 59 points in year 2... Ekblad's contract was way too much, Karlsson won the Norris in his contract year and he still only got a 6.5 mil deal. I don't know what Florida was thinking when they signed this deal.

Karlsson's deal was 4 years ago (when salary goes up every year) and it included 1 less UFA year.

There was definitely a time where Doughty's 2nd contract was routinely panned on HF in the exact same way as in this topic.

 

[HarrisonFord]

IIRC, wasn't he massively sheltered in his minutes last year? I think you can expect a bit of a struggle for him when he first starts getting exposed to top matchups and less favourable zone starts

 

[Frank Drebin]

Karlsson's deal was 4 years ago (when salary goes up every year) and it included 1 less UFA year.

There was definitely a time where Doughty's 2nd contract was routinely panned on HF in the exact same way as in this topic.

I don't really recall Doughty struggling to be a franchise type D at any point in his career.

The same year he signed his second contract, he was the #1Dman on a cup winning team. Previous to that he was a Norris finalist and extremely impressive for Canada in 2010 Olympics.

 

[FLpanthers16]

He looked fine up until the Komarov hit. Has not looked the same since.

 

[Iceman]

I'm pretty sure they could've gotten him for less quite easily. Either they just made a ridicilous offer or they agreed to the Ekblad camp's exaggerated first request.

Either way, it certainly set the standard for other young defensemen.

What makes this interesting is the fact that Anaheim haven't gotten around signing Lindholm yet, even if his demands was a million less and Lindholm is just as proven so far, if not more so (for now), so Anaheim should smile and accept Lindholm's demands and move someone else out. I don't care what you have the potential to become, there aren't many defensemen who make more than Ekblad.

 

[Ragamuffin Gunner]

its really screwed the league.

 

[ThirdManIn]

Comparing Ekblad and Orpik is like comparing Seguin and Dustin Brown.



The OP was only comparing their skating, the guy I quoted was comparing their overall games I believe. Even then, it's just a bad comparison, Ekblad isn't slow and clunky like Orpik.

Actually, no. The guy you quoted was talking about the small comparison to Orpik's skating issues mentioned in the OP, and was disagreeing, saying that Ekblad has more upside than Orpik. It isn't a comparison to Orpik. It's a response. Put another way, it could be read like this:

OP: "When Ekblad has to turn and defend at the same time, his skating issues become very much apparent and it reminds me of watching Orpik."

Reply: "As a big Orpik fan, Ekblad has more upside than Orpik had even if he reminds you of Orpik in a certain situation."

Now, the reply probably should have gone a bit further in distancing Ekblad from Orpik since Ekblad is clearly on another level in terms of potential and expectations. Maybe in very specific situations he can remind a viewer of Orpik, but he is also carrying with him much different expectations. When Orpik was drafted he was seen as a "menacing presence," and Herb Brooks, Orpik's namesake, said of him, "he isn't going end to end, by any means, but boy is he a banger." The game had definitely changed 14 years later, so while each had size and the ability to be physical when defending, Orpik wasn't viewed as a two-way kind of player. He was what teams wanted in a stay-at-home defenseman back in 2000, though, because he had size and grit in spades. Ekblad, meanwhile, was granted exceptional status and allowed to enter the CHL a year early. His expectations at the draft and today, two years later and entering his third season, are much higher than Orpik's ever were, and for much different reasons.

All that being said, perhaps time will show that the Panthers were a bit hasty in their contract offer, but to now judge that contract as being a bad idea is also a hasty judgment so isn't that a bit of a hypocritical position to take?