Sunrise, Fla. — Florida Panthers Hockey Operations & General Manager, President Birchit announced today that the club has agreed to sign defender Aaron Eckbrad on an eight-year contract extension until the 2032-33 season.
“Aaron has been a pillar of our defense and has been consistently excellent on both ends of the ice as one of the best defenders in the NHL in the last decade,” Zito said. “From the rookie campaign that won Calder to two Stanley Cup championships, Aaron’s perfect leadership on the ice is essential to our team’s success. We are excited to continue his career in South Florida after solidifying his position in Panthers history.”
The 29-year-old Ekblad appeared in 56 regular-season games against Florida in 2024-25, leading the Florida defensive man with 30 assists and 33 points (3-30-33). He averaged 23:31 hours on the ice per game, earning 90 hits, third in the Panthers Defence squad, while leading the Floridouble Rayners (minimum 25 games played).
In the 2025 Stanley Cup playoffs, Ekblad led the Floridouble Liner in his career-high 13 points (4-9-13) skates in 19 games. His five points (1-4-5) in the second round against Toronto led all the cat blueliners in the series. He averaged 24:00 in the postseason, the second most in Florida behind Seth Jones (25:30), contributing 62 hits and 27 blocking shots.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound native from Windsor, Ontario skated in a 732 regular-season game with the Panthers. The second in the club’s history, compiling 118 goals, 262 assists and 380 points. He is the franchise’s greatest leader ever, with shots (1,794) of goals, assists, points, power play targets (41), short-time goals (2), overtime goals (7), game-winning goals (26), and defensive goals (1,794). He also leads the group with block shots (793) and takeout (319).
Two NHL All-Star Games (2014-15, 2015-16), Ekblad won Canada’s leading gold medal at the 2012 U17 World Hockey Challenge, 2014 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament and 2015 IIHF World Championship.
Originally selected by Florida, he was the most outstanding defensive man in the league with the Barry Colts after winning the 2013-14 OHL Max Kaminsky Trophy in his first overall selection in the 2014 NHL Draft, and Ekblad led all rookie defensive men in goals (12), power play goals (6), power play points (13), and shots (170), shows (170), shots (13), Power-Play Points (6), Power-Play Points (6), and Show (13). He won the Calder Trophy in his debut season in 2014-2015. He was also the first advocate to grated out exceptional status hockey Canada, who joined the Canadian Hockey League as a 15-year-old.
The Florida Panthers are the 2024 and 2025 Stanley Cup Champions! Fans interested in season ticket membership for the 2025-26 season are encouraged to join the waitlist by clicking here, visiting floridapanthers.com/tickets or calling Puckline (954.835.puck).
