{"id":23249,"date":"2025-06-29T01:16:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-29T01:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/23249\/"},"modified":"2025-06-29T01:16:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-29T01:16:09","slug":"panthers-gm-focused-on-ekblad-marchand-deals-ahead-of-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/23249\/","title":{"rendered":"Panthers GM focused on Ekblad, Marchand deals ahead of free agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.<\/strong> — When the Florida Panthers signed center Sam Bennett<\/a> to an eight-year, $64 million contract ($8 million average annual value) on Friday, the attention turned to two of their other stars.<\/p>\n

Discussions between the Panthers and their top pending unrestricted free agents, defenseman Aaron Ekblad<\/a> and forward Brad Marchand<\/a>, have been going on for some time. But with the NHL free agency period starting Tuesday at noon, the clock is ticking to get deals done.<\/p>\n

On Saturday, Florida general manager Bill Zito did not rule out signing both players before Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have an idea,\u201d Zito said following the conclusion of the 2025 NHL Draft on Saturday afternoon. \u201cIf what I think isn\u2019t accurate, and it might not be, OK. We have a Plan B and a Plan C. But my preference, and maybe I\u2019m hoping, is that there\u2019s enough for guys to want to stay and be part of this, be treated fairly and be happy. And that\u2019s the most important thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following Florida winning the Stanley Cup for a second straight year, Zito told Sportsnet and ESPN\u2019s \u201cThe Pat McAfee Show\u201d that he thought there was a way to keep Bennett, Ekblad and Marchand. The Panthers have worked hard to build a culture not only of winning, but of players having a desire to be a part of the organization.<\/p>\n

Bennett spoke on that topic Saturday morning, saying his decision to continue playing for the Panthers did not necessarily come down to how much money they were offering, although that was nothing to look down on.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s certainly a balance,\u201d Bennett said. \u201cYou have got to weigh a bunch of things — how much you enjoy your life here is a huge factor. Obviously, you get to the number that you feel comfortable with, but really, it\u2019s just how much we enjoy our life, how much I enjoy coming to the rink every day. There have been times earlier in my career where I didn’t enjoy it as much. I certainly don’t take it for granted now, coming to the rink every day with a smile and just being happy to be here, happy to play for this team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ekblad, 29, has been with the Panthers for the entirety of his 11-year NHL career. Florida made him the No. 1 pick of the 2014 Draft — one that included future teammates Sam Reinhart<\/a> (No. 2, Buffalo Sabres) and Bennett (No. 4, Calgary Flames).<\/p>\n

Marchand is new to the Panthers, having been acquired at the NHL Trade Deadline on March 7 after the 37-year-old spent his previous 16 seasons with the Boston Bruins, including the past two as their captain.<\/p>\n

Zito, of all people, knows the Panthers do not have the most money to offer his pending free agents due to salary cap constraints. But he also figures the Panthers have something special brewing which does not come around often.<\/p>\n

Ekblad, speaking to the media before the team\u2019s Stanley Cup championship parade celebration last Sunday, reiterated his desire to remain with the Panthers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s part of who I am at this point,\u201d Ekblad said when asked about staying with the Panthers. \u201cI\u2019ve spent 11 years here, and that\u2019s more than I\u2019ve spent in any home or city in my life. So it\u2019s home, and I expect it to be home.<\/p>\n

\u201cConversations have been had, obviously nothing material yet, but they\u2019ll be working on it. Things like to seem to come down to the last minute here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Marchand has also made it pretty clear he wants to continue on in South Florida.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the best few months I have ever had in my career,” Marchand said last Friday. \u201cIt\u2019s an incredible group down here. I\u2019ve loved every second of it, and hopefully it can continue.”<\/p>\n

Zito has been busy the past couple of days.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, the Panthers acquired goalie Daniil Tarasov<\/a> in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets for a fifth-round pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, then signed Bennett before the draft began on Friday.<\/p>\n

During Zito\u2019s press conference on Saturday, his phone went off.<\/p>\n

There is a lot going on, and it is not slowing down.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there is a respect for the game that our group has in tandem with respect for each other,\u2019\u2019 Zito said. \u201cThey are able to pull the fun out of whatever it is, and we\u2019re really lucky, really blessed to have good people who care about each other, who love hockey, and who want to win. It\u2019s pretty simple.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — When the Florida Panthers signed center Sam Bennett to an eight-year, $64 million contract…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":23250,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-23249","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-nhl","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-united-states","11":"tag-unitedstates","12":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114764014124704509","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23249\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23250"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}