With Aaron Ekblad suspended, Seth Jones just became so much more important to Panthers
The Florida Panthers’ trade for five-time All-Star defenseman Seth Jones earlier this month is about to pay even more dividends than the team had initially hoped.
With Aaron Ekblad suspended 20 games following a failed random drug test, the Panthers will be relying on Jones to take over Ekblad’s roles for the remainder of the regular season. That started with Tuesday’s 3-2 road loss at the Boston Bruins in which Florida blew a two-goal lead by giving up three goals over an eight-minute span in the third period.
Jones played on the top defense pairing with Gustav Forsling, ran the top power play and saw increased time of the penalty kill on Tuesday. He played a game-high 28:36 on Tuesday, the most ice time he has seen this season.
It’s a role he has shown he can handle in the past. Before being acquired from the Chicago Blackhawks on March 1 in exchange for goaltender Spencer Knight and a conditional 2026 first-round draft pick, Jones was a top-pair defenseman in Chicago for the past three-and-a-half years and also held down that role in previous stops with the Nashville Predators and Columbus Blue Jackets.
Jones has averaged more than 25 minutes per game five of the past seven seasons. In his first three games with the Panthers — with Ekblad in the lineup — Jones was on the ice an average of 21:03 per game while recording eight shots on goal, four blocked shots and three hits. When the game was at 5-on-5, Florida controlled 56.6 percent of shot attempts with Jones on the ice.
“Amazing defenseman,” Forsling said. “Great stick. Big, solid guy. Real skill with the puck.”
Added Panthers coach Paul Maurice: “He’s getting more and more comfortable each game.”
Aaron Ekblad’s suspension
The NHL on Monday announced Ekblad’s suspension, which is without pay, for violating the terms of the NHL and NHL Players Association’s performance enhancing substances program.
Ekblad acknowledged through a statement released by the NHLPA that he failed a random drug test after he “made a mistake by taking something to help me recover from recent injuries without first checking with proper medical and team personnel.” Ekblad missed eight games in a nine-game stretch in January with an upper-body injury and has missed at least 11 games each of the past four seasons due to various injuries.
“I have let my teammates, the Panthers organization and our great friends down. For that, I am truly sorry,” Ekblad said in the statement. “I have accepted responsibility for my mistake and will be fully prepared to return to my team when my suspension is over. I have learned a hard lesson and cannot wait to be back with my teammates.”
The Panthers only have 18 games remaining in the regular season, so Ekblad will not play the rest of the regular season and would be sidelined for the Panthers’ first two playoff games as well.
The suspension is accompanied by mandatory referral to the NHL/NHLPA Program for Substance Abuse and Behavioral Health for evaluation and possible treatment as stated under the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Long-term impact
But perhaps more importantly in the long-term for the Panthers, could this be a showcase for what the Panthers defense might look like in the future?
Remember that Ekblad, who has spent all 11 seasons of his NHL career with the Panthers, becomes an unrestricted free agent after this season. Forsling is under contract through the 2031-32 season, while Jones is signed through the 2029-30 season, meaning this could be the Panthers’ new top defense pairing for up to the next five years if Florida decides to move on from Ekblad after this season.
Ekblad finished the season with 33 points (three goals, 30 assists) in 56 games played this season. He leads the Panthers and through games played Monday ranked 28th in the NHL in average time on ice (23:31).
He is the longest-tenured defenseman in franchise history, holding records for games played (732), goals (118), assists (262) and points (380) among Panthers blueliners.
How this impacts the rest of Florida’s defense pairings
Pairing Forsling and Jones together would mean Florida would revert back to the second and third pairings it had used prior to acquiring Jones. That puts Niko Mikkola back with Dmitry Kulikov and Nate Schmidt paired with Uvis Balinskis. Mikkola and Jones were paired together the past three games, while Schmidt played with Kulikov and Balinskis was a healthy scratch.
Over the past three games since Jones joined the Panthers, Mikkola and Jones played together on the second pairing, while Schmidt and Kulikov served as the third pairing and Balinskis was a healthy scratch.
Schmidt likely will return to the second power-play unit with Jones taking over the top spot.
And while the Panthers’ goal when acquiring Jones was to bolster Florida’s blue line, the Panthers’ second and third pairings had held their own over the first two-thirds of the season before Jones’ arrival.
Among 65 defense pairings across the NHL that had played had least 400 minutes together at five-on-five this season entering play Tuesday, all three of the Panthers’ initial pairs ranked among the top 20 in the league in corsi-for percentage, which is the percentage of shot attempts a team controls when a player or group of players are on the ice together.
The Forsling-Ekblad pairing led the way in seventh, with Florida controlling 55.83 percent of shot attempts while outscoring opponents 41-29 and having a 426-339 edge in scoring chances over 866:43.
Next is the Schmidt-Balinskis duo, whose 55.28 corsi-for percentage is eighth among those 65 pairings although they have been outscored 16-12 over 423:52
Finally, the Mikkola-Kulikov tandem ranks 20th with a 51.90 corsi for percentage while being tied in goals for and against with 26 apiece over 636:31.
This story was originally published March 11, 2025 at 9:46 AM.
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