Acquisition of Aaron Ekblad: The defenseman might be on the market
The Panthers have just won the Stanley Cup, and there's already talk of a major trade in their case.
Indeed, they have a lot of unrestricted free agents to sign and must absolutely find the financial resources.
Here are the unrestricted free agents:
This list dates back to their Stanley Cup victory, and several faces have already departed, but it's still a lot of players.
There are also two restricted free agents, Anton Lundell and Josh Mahura, to sign. Looking at the team's situation, they are missing several players to complete the roster and have only $19.5 million in cap space.
Bill Zito, the Panthers' GM, needs to find solutions, and one of them is to trade Aaron Ekblad. Despite being a cornerstone of the defense, the former first overall pick in 2014 gets injured very often and was not a dominant factor in the season and the Stanley Cup run, with 14 points in 51 games and 6 in 22 playoff games.
With a salary of $7.5 million, Ekblad is heavy on the cap, and since July 1st, his full no-movement clause has become partial, with a possibility of being traded to 12 teams.
According to rumors, the defenseman is willing to accept a pay cut on his next contract to stay in Florida. He even changed agents for several reasons.
We will see what happens with Ekblad, but keep in mind that his name might appear in a trade this summer.
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