PuckPedia reported that the Florida Panthers made a move Tuesday to officially place star defenseman Aaron Ekblad on the long-term injured reserve. The transaction has been months in the making, but the Panthers officially completed the paperwork Tuesday. Ekblad is expected to miss at least the first month of the season as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery.
The move gives the Panthers some breathing room under the salary cap allowing them to facilitate other moves. Florida will be without Ekblad and fellow defenseman Brandon Montour for quite some time which could lead to expanded roles for Gustav Forsling and newcomer Oliver Ekman-Larsson.
One note on LTIR is that once a player is placed on it, they must miss at least ten games and 24 days, which means the earliest Ekblad could return is the first week of November.
The 2014 first-overall pick saw his numbers dip last season as the Panthers marched to the Stanley Cup finals. And with the root cause of his injury unknown, one might wonder if a fully healthy Ekblad could be ready for a monster bounce-back season.
In other Panthers notes:
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