The Florida Panthers finish their season on April 15th against the Tampa Bay Lightning. Based on the way the standings look, that game could carry some matter of importance in regards to the standings. We already know that the Panthers will be short at least one player, and that player is a pretty important one.
On Monday, the NHL announced that defenseman Aaron Ekblad has been suspended for 20 games for violating the league’s Performance Enhancing Substance Program. That punishment, which is without pay, will keep Ekblad out through the end of the season as well as the first two games of the playoffs. Interestingly enough, since he is being suspended without pay, his salary doesn’t count against the cap for the rest of the season. If he had been suspended last week, could that have altered their trade deadline plans?
For the Panthers it could be a preview of what life could be like next season if Ekblad leaves through free agency. Expect Seth Jones to pick up the extra ice time in his absence. As for Ekblad, he’ll have to convince teams that that this was an honest mistake (he claims that he took something to help recover from an injury that wasn’t cleared by the team’s medical staff).
Ekblad is the first NHLer to be suspended for violating the PED policy since Nate Schmidt was disciplined back at the beginning of the 2018 season.
Lightning News
Some final thoughts on the trade deadline [Raw Charge]
Some thoughts on the trade and Julien BriseBois’ approach to improving the team in general. In short, win now, worry about the future later.
Lightning aim to bring urgency with them on the road [Tampa Bay Times]
While they have put themselves in a good position the Lightning know they haven’t punched their post-season ticket just yet. A successful road trip will get them closer to that goal.
How Yanni Gourde impacts the Lightning forward core [The Hockey Writers]
Jack Pallotta takes a deeper look at what the new/old guy brings to the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Other Hockey News
What I’m hearing about the Penguins deadline [The Athletic]
The fun part of the week after the deadline is that we start to hear about who was on the block and who wasn’t. Apparently Rickard Rakell drew a lot of interest, but no one matched the price Kyle Dubas had set for the winger. We’ll see what happens this summer, though.
Jonathan Toews wants to return to hockey [NHL.com]
It’s been a couple of seasons since Captain Serious played competitive hockey, but the 36-year-old thinks he still has something left to give. The question will be if any team is willing to give him a chance.
Steven Stamkos named second star of the week [NHL.com]
It hasn’t been the best year for The Captain, but he showed some signs of life last week as he put up 8 points (4 goals, 4 assists) for the Predators to nab the second star of the week. Nathan MacKinnon was the first star while Tom Wilson was the third star.
