Bill Zito has managed, improbably, to keep the band together in South Florida.
Defenseman Aaron Ekblad and winger Brad Marchand have agreed to re-sign with the two-time Stanley Cup champion Panthers, according to reports from various outlets.
Ekblad, 29, will sign an eight-year deal worth an average annual value of $6.1 million, as first reported by TSN’s Bob McKenzie.
Marchand, 37, will stay on a six-year deal worth $5.25 million annually, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman and The Athletic’s Pierre LeBrun.
Sam Bennett, the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as the most valuable player of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, inked an eight-year extension June 27 worth $8 million per season.
All three players could have entered unrestricted free agency July 1. Instead, they will look to lead the Panthers to the NHL’s first three-peat in more than four decades.
Aaron Ekblad likely to play entire NHL career with Panthers
Ekblad, selected first overall by the Panthers in the 2014 NHL draft, almost certainly left money on the table to stay in Sunrise. The Athletic projected the 6-foot-4, 220-pound right-handed D-man’s market value at $7.5 million per season.
He is the Panthers’ all-time leader in goals (118), assists (262), points (380) and games played (732) among defensemen. In 58 games during the 2024-25 regular season, Ekblad had three goals and 30 assists while logging 23:31 in ice time per game.
say it with me everyone: Aaron Ekblad took a hometown discount to stay with a championship-caliber roster and become a part of a dynasty pic.twitter.com/VKoC2QvrXf
— Shayna (@shaynagoldman_) June 30, 2025
Ekblad missed 20 games due to violating the NHL and NHL Players Association’s policy on performance-enhancing drugs, returning in time for Game 3 of the Panthers’ first-round playoff series versus Tampa Bay. In total, he has missed 110 games over the past five seasons.
Brad Marchand sticks around after joining at trade deadline
Marchand, meanwhile, could well go down as the most impactful trade deadline acquisition in NHL history when all is said and done — at the cost of a 2028 first-round pick. Atlantic Division rivals Boston and Toronto, as well as the renamed Utah Mammoth, were expected to enter the bidding if Marchand made it to market.
He fit in seamlessly on a line with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen, contributing 10 goals and 10 assists in 23 playoff games to lift the Stanley Cup for the second time in his career.
A former third-round pick, Marchand has played 1,100 NHL regular-season games, scoring 424 goals with 556 assists. He elevates his game in crunch time, often at the Maple Leafs’ expense, with a career average of 0.88 points per playoff game.
The one risk in providing longer term on Marchand’s new deal is paying him until he turns 43 years old.
None of Brad Marchand’s comps played until they were 43 years old so the outcome range part of the chart broke, sorry pic.twitter.com/mLbVS50q3D
— dom 📈 (@domluszczyszyn) June 30, 2025
What’s left for the Panthers to do this offseason?
Prior to news breaking of the Marchand extension, Florida had just $4.9 million in cap space with which to work, per PuckPedia. However, the Panthers have Ekblad, Marchand, Bennett, Selke Trophy winner and captain Aleksandar Barkov, Sam Reinhart, Carter Verhaeghe, Anton Lundell, Seth Jones and Gustav Forsling all locked up through the 2029-30 season — and each at AAVs of $10 million or less.
Five Panthers are expected to test the waters on July 1, most notably third-pair defenseman Nate Schmidt. Mackie Samoskevich and Daniil Tarasov are restricted free agents, though the former is not eligible to sign an offer sheet from another club since he has only two years of pro experience.
Looking further ahead, Zito can begin negotiating contract extensions with players whose contracts expire in 2026. Starting goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky’s seven-year deal worth $10 million per year will come off the books. Left-handed defenseman Niko Mikkola will be due a raise on his $2.5 million salary, and the Panthers will eventually need to make decisions on Uvis Balinskis, A.J. Greer and Jonah Gadjovich.
If the Panthers make any further acquisitions, it could be to fill Schmidt’s void on the point — perhaps with another right-handed shot.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida Panthers keeping top players for Stanley Cup three-peat run