Confirmed with Link: Ekblad Suspended 20 Games For Performance Enhancement

[I am not exposed]

Never a dull moment with the Panthers these days.

 

[Chaos2k7]

Question for our capologists, as Ekblad and his cap hit no longer count against the cap, and we didn't use all of the LTIR on Chucky, could we theoretically active Chucky before the end of the regular season and be cap compliant now?

 

[16Skippy]

Does this mean Tkachuk will recover before the playoffs?

 

[Gentle Man]

We’ll never know, but I’d be curious to know what he took.

Crisco

 

[FrolikFan67]

Well, considering that we most likely weren’t keeping him next season anyways, Forsling-Jones was probably inevitable so I guess they get to begin getting familiar with each other now for a quarter of the season. Mikkola-Kulikov and Balinskis-Schmidt just isn’t ideal for two playoff games especially when there’s a very real chance we get a much improved Tampa team vs last season. Even the leafs improved in several key areas. Would be hysterical if they still manage to win the division but I wouldn’t bet on it with how close things are. If he was gonna get caught for this, why the hell couldn’t it have been literally just 2 games ago instead of now

 

[MarginNotes]

Win? Loss?

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Well, considering that we most likely weren’t keeping him next season anyways, Forsling-Jones was probably inevitable so I guess they get to begin getting familiar with each other now for a quarter of the season. Mikkola-Kulikov and Balinskis-Schmidt just isn’t ideal for two playoff games especially when there’s a very real chance we get a much improved Tampa team vs last season. Even the leafs improved in several key areas. Would be hysterical if they still manage to win the division but I wouldn’t bet on it with how close things are. If he was gonna get caught for this, why the hell couldn’t it have been literally just 2 games ago instead of now

He got popped in mid/late January when he was recovering from his injury vs Utah the 8th. League had to triple test the sample, inform Ekblad, give him his options etc. It's not a coincidence he had a statement ready, this has been in the works for weeks at minimum.

 

[Gentle Man]

If he was that hurt, he should have just rested lol

Missing regular season games is a lot less important

 

[austropanther]

Sign him at league minimum or let him walk it's what Zito should do. Can't imagine that Bill is okay with Ek giving us a bad reputation and/or having a bad influence on other players.
Ek made enough money already, he should not be rewarded for his behaviour.

But who am I kidding? It's a business after all and I am sure at least one team will have a short memory and sign this sh*thead for Ek's wanted amount and term

 

[scholl]

Well at least he admit he made a mistake in what he took but that’s gonna cost him money on his next deal

He is very lucky. In any sports governed by WADA he would have been out for 2 or 4 years. Doping is common in North America. All NHL players are bigger than players in other leagues and it doesn't come from eating porridge every morning.

 

[Manc Cat]

Crazy news to wake up to. Dumb move to bypass the medical staff...

 

[Egblad]

What will be interesting is when he comes back, is he still wearing the A.

You’d have to think not. Part of being a leader is being a role model based on good decision making. This is kind of fly in the ointment to that.

 

[Jean Luc Discard]

Sign him at league minimum or let him walk it's what Zito should do. Can't imagine that Bill is okay with Ek giving us a bad reputation and/or having a bad influence on other players.
Ek made enough money already, he should not be rewarded for his behaviour.

But who am I kidding? It's a business after all and I am sure at least one team will have a short memory and sign this sh*thead for Ek's wanted amount and term

imo the decision to let Ekbad walk has been made a long time ago and this development has no bearing to it. I'd much rather have Zito to invest that remaining ~7mil in cap space to e.g. Chychrun who's on pace for 53pts & +30 in this season and he's couple of years younger than Ekky.

 

[ChopCat]

Question for our capologists, as Ekblad and his cap hit no longer count against the cap, and we didn't use all of the LTIR on Chucky, could we theoretically active Chucky before the end of the regular season and be cap compliant now?

I was thinking this myself but I don't think so. Puckpedia puts us around $8.5 and MT makes a million over that so unless a Forward with that salary goes down it doesn't seem to be an option. But the cap rules have so many quirks that I could be completely wrong.

Obviously a stupid decision by Aaron but I don't get the hate here. He's always played hard as hell, gutted through a shredded shoulder two seasons ago for the Cup run, played first pair minutes very well (StatCards don't lie) and felt the pressure to be on ice during a contract year. At least he should be fully healthy for the playoffs now.

 

[Last Rat Standing]

Any cheap FA available?

 

[RogerRogerr]

What will be interesting is when he comes back, is he still wearing the A.

You’d have to think not. Part of being a leader is being a role model based on good decision making. This is kind of fly in the ointment to that.

You're not stripping someone's A in the playoffs.

 

[Egblad]

You're not stripping someone's A in the playoffs.

Why not? You don’t think it’s reasonable given this? How is what he did sportsmanlike?

There should be a strong justification for him keeping it.

 

[Idiot Stick]

Kulikov should get Both As

 

[ShootIt]

Kulikov should get the C

I agree.

 

[Sticksandsun]

Question for our capologists, as Ekblad and his cap hit no longer count against the cap, and we didn't use all of the LTIR on Chucky, could we theoretically active Chucky before the end of the regular season and be cap compliant now?

Isn't the cap useless or disappears literally a day after the deadline passes?
You can add more roster players and be over the cap from now until a couple weeks before the 2025-26 season?

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

Kulikov should get everything he wants forever and ever

Wow, but not wrong

 

[floridada]

Man people on facebook are wild lol. Apparently Ekblad married a doctor just so he could have free access to steroids to cheat the oilers.

 

[violaswallet]

I was thinking this myself but I don't think so. Puckpedia puts us around $8.5 and MT makes a million over that so unless a Forward with that salary goes down it doesn't seem to be an option. But the cap rules have so many quirks that I could be completely wrong.

Obviously a stupid decision by Aaron but I don't get the hate here. He's always played hard as hell, gutted through a shredded shoulder two seasons ago for the Cup run, played first pair minutes very well (StatCards don't lie) and felt the pressure to be on ice during a contract year. At least he should be fully healthy for the playoffs now.

We need an additional 962 500 to activate him. The easiest thing would be to send down Samo but he is only 925. We could try some combo of our old fourth line but that’s also risky

 

[batting1k]

What will be interesting is when he comes back, is he still wearing the A.

Not only will he not be wearing the A, he’ll be in the A too.

 

[Gizmo Tkachuk]

Man people on facebook are wild lol. Apparently Ekblad married a doctor just so he could have free access to steroids to cheat the oilers.

I can think of no other reason to marry her. Everyone knows girls have cooties