Aaron Ekblad

Canada Aaron Ekblad


Date of birth	February 7, 1996
place of birth	Belle River , Ontario , Canada
size	193 cm
Weight	98 kg

position	defender
number	# 5
Shot hand	Right

Draft

KHL Junior Draft	2013 , 5th round, 171st position Vitjas Chekhov
NHL Entry Draft	2014 , 1st round, 1st position Florida Panthers

Career stations

2009-2011	Sun County Panthers
2011-2014	Barrie Colts
since 2014	Florida panthers

Aaron Ekblad (born February 7, 1996 in Belle River , Ontario ) is a Canadian ice hockey player on the position of defender . Since 2014 he has been under contract with the Florida Panthers in the National Hockey League , which selected him in first overall position in the draft of the same year . At the end of his first professional season, he was honored with the Calder Memorial Trophy as the best rookie in the league.

Career

Ekblad began his career near his hometown in the Windsor area with the Sun County Panthers , where he went through various ages. He played for several years with the players born in 1995, who were a year older than Ekblad. He made a name for himself early on when he was voted best defender for his age group in the province of Ontario twice in a row by the Ontario Hockey Federation in 2009 and 2010 . At the same time he led his team to the title of the local league in both years. In the 2010/11 season he finally scored 67 points scorer in 62 games in the Midget League .

In February 2011 Ekblad applied for an exemption from the Ontario Hockey League , Ontario's highest junior league, in order to be admitted to the league's entry draft at the age of 15 . After a six-week review by Hockey Canada Ekblad was granted exceptional player status on March 31, 2011 , making it the second player after John Tavares in 2005 to receive this status within the Canadian Hockey League . In the OHL Priority Selection 2011 he was then selected as the overall first by the Barrie Colts and received the Jack Ferguson Award .

In the 2011/12 season Ekblad completed his rookie season in the OHL as the youngest player in the league , which he completed with 29 points from 63 games as the best-point defender of the Barrie Colts. In addition, he succeeded with the team that had finished the previous season with the worst record in the league, to move into second place in the Eastern Conference in the play-offs. There Ekblad scored five points in 13 games for the Colts. After the season was over, he was honored with the Emms Family Award as Rookie of the Year, making him the fourth defender in league history to receive the trophy. He was also elected to the First All-Rookie Team together with Olli Määttä .

The following season , Ekblad dropped out for several games due to an injury, but still recorded the best plus / minus balance of the Colts and led his team to the play-offs again with 34 points from 54 games. There the Colts failed only in the final series after seven games against the London Knights . In the play-offs Ekblad led all defenders with seven goals and recorded a total of 17 points scorer.

Subsequently, after the departure of Ryan O'Connor , Aaron Ekblad was named team captain of the Colts. In January 2014, he was also the captain of Bobby Orr's team at the CHL Top Prospects Game and scored two assists. In the midterm rankings of the National Hockey League for the NHL Entry Draft 2014 , Ekblad was ranked third among all North American outfield players.

In the subsequent draft, the Florida Panthers selected him in first position, with which Ekblad signed a three-year entry contract in September 2014. Right at the start of the 2014/15 season, Ekblad established himself in the NHL lineup of the Panthers and played 81 of 82 regular season games. He was then awarded the Calder Memorial Trophy as the best rookie in the league and elected to the NHL All-Rookie Team .

International

Ekblad first represented his home province of Ontario at the age of 15 at the 2012 World U-17 Hockey Challenge . There he won the bronze medal with his team and finished the tournament as the youngest player on the team with three points. The following season he was named selection captain, leading Ontario to sixth place. With six points he was again the best defender of his team.

At the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament 2013 Ekblad was in the squad of the Canadian U18 selection and was again named team captain. In the game against the Czech Republic he prepared three power play goals and scored two goals himself during the tournament. Canada finally won the gold medal with a 4-0 win over the USA. At the 2014 U20 World Youth Championship , Ekblad was the youngest defender in the Canadian squad at the age of 17 and formed a defensive line with Derrick Pouliot . The team eventually reached fourth place.

In the senior sector, Ekblad represented the Canadian national team at the 2015 World Cup and won the gold medal there with the team.

Achievements and Awards

2011 Jack Ferguson Award
2012 OHL First All-Rookie Team
2012 Emms Family Award
2014 Max Kaminsky Trophy
2014 OHL First All-Star Team

International

2012 bronze medal at the World U-17 Hockey Challenge
2013 gold medal at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament
2015 gold medal at the world championship

Career statistics

Status: end of the 2018/19 season

			Regular season						Playoffs
season	team	league	Sp	T	V	Pt	SM	+/-	Sp	T	V	Pt	SM	+/-
2011/12	Barrie Colts	OHL	63	10	19th	29	34	−5	13	2	3	5	8th	−1
2012/13	Barrie Colts	OHL	54	7th	27	34	64	+29	22nd	7th	10	17th	28	+11
2013/14	Barrie Colts	OHL	58	23	30th	53	91	+7	9	2	4th	6th	14th	-4
2014/15	Florida panthers	NHL	81	12	27	39	32	+12	-	-	-	-	-	-
2015/16	Florida panthers	NHL	78	15th	21st	36	41	+18	6th	0	1	1	0	± 0
2016/17	Florida panthers	NHL	68	10	11	21st	58	-23	-	-	-	-	-	-
2017/18	Florida panthers	NHL	82	16	22nd	38	71	+9	-	-	-	-	-	-
2018/19	Florida panthers	NHL	82	13	24	37	47	+1	-	-	-	-	-	-
2019/20	Florida panthers	NHL	67	5	36	41	26th	+12	4th	0	0	0	2	± 0
OHL total			175	40	76	116	189	+31	44	11	17th	28	50	+6
NHL overall			458	71	141	212	275	+29	10	0	1	1	2	± 0

International

Represented Canada to:

Represented team North America at:

World Cup of Hockey 2016

year	team	event	result	Sp	T	V	Pt	SM
2012	Canada Ontario	U17-WHC		5	1	2	3	4th
2013	Canada Ontario	U17-WHC	6th place	5	2	4th	6th	4th
2013	Canada	HIMT		5	2	3	5	4th
2014	Canada	U20 World Cup	4th Place	7th	1	1	2	2
2015	Canada	WM		10	4th	3	7th	6th
2016	North America team	World cup	5th place	1	0	0	0	0
2018	Canada	WM	4th Place	10	1	5	6th	6th
Juniors overall				22nd	6th	10	16	14th
Men overall				21st	5	8th	13	12

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; ¹ play-downs / relegation )

Play style

Aaron Ekblad is a two-way defender. He plays a physical game due to his height of 1.93 m, but is also considered a flexible player who can handle the puck well. Scouts also praised his hard shot and precise assists. He has occasionally been compared to Chris Pronger . Since his rookie season in the OHL, Ekblad has been used in both power play and undernumbered games. In addition to his all-round skills, his leadership skills on and off the ice are also highlighted.