Panthers’ top defenseman returns to practice. And NHL has good news on COVID testing
For the first time since Tuesday, the Florida Panthers were back at full strength for their first practice in Toronto.
Aaron Ekblad, who missed the final three practices of the Panthers’ postseason training camp last week at the Florida Panthers IceDen, returned to the ice Monday in Canada.
Ekblad won’t play Wednesday in Florida’s scrimmage against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Scotiabank Arena, but Joel Quenneville said the defenseman will be ready to play Saturday when the Panthers begin the qualifying round of the expanded postseason against the New York Islanders in Ontario.
“He wanted to get back into practice in the worst way, so we got him out there today,” the coach said. “We’re not going to play him in the Tampa game, but he’ll get skating time on Wednesday, and then we’ll go into the weekend and he’ll be ready to go.”
Chase Priskie also skated Monday after missing Florida’s last three practices in Coral Springs. The defenseman, who spent the entire regular season in the American Hockey League and was not part of the Panthers’ top four defensive pairings throughout training camp, skated with a smaller group of players after practice.
Ekblad’s return is critical for Florida, which has one of the worst defenses of any team participating in the expanded Stanley Cup playoffs. The Panthers allowed 3.25 goals per game in the regular season — the worst mark of any team in the postseason — and Ekblad was one of their few bright spots. The 24-year-old led the team with 3.5 defensive point shares and his 41 points were second most among Florida defensemen.
Before his injury, Ekblad spent all of camp playing with fellow defenseman MacKenzie Weegar as Florida’s top defensive pairing. Converted defenseman Mark Pysyk, who had been the Panthers’ fourth-line right wing, filled in for Ekblad on the top pairing for those last three practices in Florida.
“He’s a big piece of our team, so it was good to have him back,” All-Star left wing Jonathan Huberdeau said. “He looked good on the ice today, so I think, like Q said, he’s not going to play against [the Lightning], but he’s going to be ready for the Islanders and it’s a big piece for us.”
NHL COVID-19 update
The latest round of NHL testing for COVID-19 is even more promising than the previous one. In the last week, not a single player tested positive for the coronavirus, the league announced Monday.
The NHL administered 4,256 tests to more than 800 players in the final week of postseason training camps at team facilities and not a single one came back positive. In the previous week, the NHL confirmed two positive tests. Players were tested every other day throughout Phase 3, which encompassed the camps.
Now NHL players and staff are theoretically in an even safer situation. On Sunday, the 12 remaining Eastern Conference teams arrived in Toronto and the 12 remaining Western Conference teams arrived in Edmonton to kick Phase 4 of the league’s return-to-play plan, and resume the season Saturday. Players and staff will live entirely within “secure zones,” staying exclusively within designated areas around the hotels and arenas, cordoned off from the public. Throughout Phase 4, everyone within the bubbles will be tested every day.
“The NHL will continue to provide regular updates on the number of tests administered to Players and the results of those tests,” the league said in a statement. “The League will not be providing information on the identity of the Players or Clubs.”
