Ekblad will miss start of Panthers training camp after shoulder surgery

SUNRISE, Fla. -- Aaron Ekblad will not be ready for the start of training camp with the Florida Panthers.

The defenseman said Thursday he expects to have shoulder surgery. He also broke his foot during Game 2 of the Eastern Conference First Round against the Boston Bruins and did not find out about it until between the second round and Eastern Conference Final. He then dislocated his shoulder in that series against the Carolina Hurricanes, a four-game sweep that got Florida into the Stanley Cup Final.

"That's been a problem for a long time for me, so we're going to get it fixed," Ekblad said. "So no, I won't be ready for September, but shortly after that, so going to work through that."

Ekblad had eight points (two goals, six assists) and was plus-9 in 20 Stanley Cup Playoff games. His 23:57 of ice time per game was third on the team behind Brandon Montour (26:58) and Gustav Forsling (26:01).

"It wasn't easy, but it was worth it, and it was fun," Ekblad said. "You adjust to the pain and stuff like that. It actually gets easier as you go. First three weeks with the foot was tough and it was more painful off the ice than on the ice, which was good. And then everything else, it was tough, but again, you're just evolved to just adjust over time."

Ekblad was taken off the ice on a stretcher after his leg got tangled with Stars defenseman Esa Lindell in the second period of a 4-1 win in Dallas on March 28, 2021. He had surgery the next day to repair a fracture in his lower extremities and missed the rest of the regular season.

"This was probably the hardest year for me injury-wise, like playing with," Ekblad said. "Obviously I've had worse stuff to deal with but nothing that was unmanageable. It wasn't that bad. Just old stuff that we all deal with."

Panthers coach Paul Maurice said there was another player whose injury might keep him out for the start of training camp, but didn't reveal who it was.

Maurice said a broken tibia kept forward Eetu Luostarinen out for the entire Stanley Cup Final. Luostarinen was injured in the second period of Game 4 against the Hurricanes when he blocked a shot.

"You can play with certain broken bones, but to get right on the top of the tibia, anytime he just stood up right he was standing on broken bones," Maurice said. "So he tried it. They got him ready one day, but he just couldn't do it. His leg wouldn't work. There's no surgery to that. It's just going to heal. He's going to be fine. We have a bunch like that."

Center Sam Bennett also dealt with multiple injuries. He did not play in Game 1 against the Bruins after missing the final 12 games of the regular season because of groin and oblique injuries.

Bennett, however, was able to play the final 20 games of playoffs.

"His first injury, the one that kept him out toward the end of the season, I think it was described to me as a ticking time bomb," Maurice said. "So when we came in and he played Game 2 (against the Bruins), I'm thinking, 'OK, we get Game 2'. But that one, it's more of a groin injury that held, but he had had a pretty significant oblique problem. And for hockey, so much twisting, that's real. And I think it bottomed. It was the most egregious for him in the Toronto series (second round). It was seven games (against Boston). He went six, but seven games, day off and you get into the Toronto series and we got into Game 3 and 4, he was struggling to play those games and then I think that one leveled off, so he was able to kind of keep going, but he was in an awful lot of pain, but he still got it done. He still played."

The Panthers lost the Cup Final in five games to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Montour (undisclosed), defenseman Radko Gudas (high ankle sprain) and forward Sam Reinhart (undisclosed) were others who played through injuries in the playoffs.

Forward Matthew Tkachuk missed most of the third period in Game 4 of the Final and did not play in Game 5 because of a broken sternum he sustained in the first period of Game 3. The Panthers won Game 3, 3-2 in overtime with Tkachuk scoring the tying goal with 2:13 remaining in the third period.

Florida (42-32-8, 92 points) needed the final week of the regular season to qualify for the playoffs as the second wild card from the East. It rallied from down 3-1 in the first round against Boston, which set NHL records with 65 wins and 135 points, to win the series in seven games. The Panthers defeated the Maple Leafs (tied for fourth in the NHL with 111 points) in five games in the second round and the Hurricanes (second in the NHL with 113 points) in the conference final before losing to the Golden Knights, who finished first in the Western Conference (111 points).