Joining the Panthers on their four-game road trip to the West Coast earlier this month, Ekblad said he's feeling "more than 100%" after slowly ramping up his routine in the weeks leading up to his return.
"I've been able to reintegrate myself with the team over the last week and a half," Ekblad said. "When we were on the road, I was able to start skating with the team. Over the last three days I was really able to put everything I have into it, and that prepares you for the game well."
Fresh off the best season of his career, Ekblad finished sixth in voting for the Norris Trophy in 2021-22 after recording a career-high 57 points (15 goals, 42 assists) in 61 games. Suiting up in three games this season, he's tallied one goal while also playing on both sides of special teams.
With other players stepping up in his absence, Florida went 6-4-1 with Ekblad out of the lineup.
"I'm really pleased with the way we survived that injury," head coach Paul Maurice said. "I would never come out and tell you that I was worried about it, but you take him out of your lineup -- and we lost him in Game 3 -- and he's such an important part of what we do. I was concerned, but really happy with the way it went. We also learned a whole bunch of things along the way."
During this morning's practice, Ekblad was paired with Marc Staal on the blue line.
"We like the way [Gustav] Forsling and [Brandon] Montour played," Maurice said when asked about the defensive pairings. "We can flip that in game, and we may. It's a little protection in his first game back after a month. He doesn't need to run against [Connor] McDavid every shift."
In Staal, Ekblad has a partner that has played more than 1,000 games in the NHL.
How much can he benefit from that experience?
"A ton," Ekblad said. "I played with Willie Mitchell and Brian Campbell back in the day. He reminds me of those guys. He's a super solid, good first-pass guy. He has a lot of knowledge about the game. Over 1,000 games. It's endless what you can learn from guys like that."
With Ekblad back, the Panthers also changed up things on their top power play unit. As it was to start the season, Montour manned the point, Ekblad and Aleksander Barkov were in the circles, Sam Reinhart was holding it down the in the slot, and Matthew Tkachuk was in front of the net.
"It's huge," Tkachuk said of Ekblad's return. "I think we have pretty close to the lineup that we started the season with here. He's a top defender in the league for a reason each and every year. He plays big minutes and helps out everybody, not just the D but the forwards as well."
With Ekblad coming off LTIR, the Panthers sent forward Aleksi Heponiemi and defensemen Matt Kiersted and Lucas Carlsson to the AHL on Thursday to make room. Additionally, forward Rudolfs Balcers was placed on waivers this afternoon to bring the roster down to 20 players.
"We like Balcers a lot," Maurice said. "We're hopeful we don't lose him because we're going to get nicked up and going to need players back up again. We just can't run 21 [players]."
