Aaron Ekblad addresses criticism of first-round elbow: ‘Reasonable response'

New York Times

07-05-2025

TORONTO — While calling the pointed criticism Brandon Hagel directed at him as 'reasonable' after being sidelined by a forearm shiver to the head, Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad said he wasn't seeking retribution or trying to hurt the Tampa Bay Lightning forward during Round 1.
Speaking to reporters in Tampa last week, Hagel questioned Ekblad's motives on a play where he was concussed by a forceful forearm to the face while playing the puck along the boards.
'Purposefully going for someone's head, it's just as bad as it gets,' he said.
Aaron Ekblad has been suspended two games for elbowing Brandon Hagel pic.twitter.com/WmCv4e2FPe
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Ekblad was suspended two games for elbowing despite not being penalized on the ice during the April 28 game. Adding insult to injury, he scored the winning goal in that Game 4 after effectively ending Hagel's season.
Prior to returning to Florida's lineup for Wednesday's game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Ekblad addressed the incident for the first time. He classified it as a good hit gone bad.
'Going down the wall there, I'm trying to make a hit every single time I do that,' Ekblad said. 'I do that all season. I was aiming for his chest and I caught him in the chin, and that's unfortunate, but it's not my intention. I'm never out to hurt anybody on the ice. It's unfortunate the way that the outcome happened, but it is what it is.
'We all move on.'
Hagel had received his own one-game suspension earlier in the series for levelling Panthers captain Aleksander Barkov when he hadn't touched the puck. He told reporters that he understood why Florida would have sought retribution following that incident, but indicated that he would have preferred to be challenged to a fight rather than getting taken out with a dirty hit.
'Any 20 of you guys,' Hagel said. 'I could care less, I'm a pretty honest player, I would have answered the bell. If he would have said 'Let's fight,' I don't care if I would have got my ass kicked.'
Hagel was particularly disappointed that the elbow came from Ekblad, who hadn't previously been suspended during an 800-game NHL career and has dealt with concussion issues of his own.
'I thought that (he was trying to injure me), which sucked because I could have played with a broken arm, I could have played with a bad knee, I could have played with a bad foot or you go down the list,' Hagel said. 'You only have one brain.'
On Wednesday morning, Ekblad declined to reveal if he had made any attempts to clear the air with Hagel.
Asked what he made of the public comments from the Lightning forward, he replied: 'Reasonable response. If that's how he feels, then we move on.'
It's been a difficult few months for the 29-year-old Panthers defenseman, who has only played two games since March 8. Two days after that, he received a 20-game suspension for violating the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.
Ekblad said that he mistakenly ingested a banned substance while taking something designed to help his recovery from injury without first checking with the proper medical and team personnel.
He was two games into his return from that ban when the Hagel hit happened.
A top-pairing defender alongside Gustav Forsling, Ekblad's return for Game 2 of the second-round series with Toronto was highly anticipated by Panthers coach Paul Maurice. With him in the lineup, Seth Jones can play on the second pairing and give them a more formidable look in the top four.
'He's a big part of what we do,' Maurice said. '(His absence came when) you're looking towards the end of the year to build that group as a feel. We get Seth in and Aaron's still on our team and then we have a block of four games with three shutouts and a 2-1 win against Tampa at home, everybody's pretty excited about the way we look, right? Then we can't find him.
'He gets the ankle bracelet put him on and we don't get him back. We're just getting to learn what we look like with everybody in.'
(Photo of Aaron Ekblad celebrating a Game 4 win in Round 1: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)