Maybe he should rock those shades when he plays, maybe he could play better defense š¤Ø
brechbillc1
Well when you have a major knee injury followed by a major ankle injury which is in turn followed by a major groin injury, it may take some time to recover fully both physically and mentally.
Keep in mind he had some pretty bad concussion issues early in his career as well. Dude has had some awful injury luck. When heās fully healthy, he gets Norris votes. But his injury history has been brutal and it may be a full season before he settles in. Kind of like EK65 is doing now. EK had some serious injuries in the past which took him some time to recover from as well.
The bigger question is, how do the Panthers want to handle Ekblad.? I canāt imagine his trade value is much thanks to said injury history and idk if anyone has noticed, but heās not seeing major minutes on special teams. Montour is taking over that role.
So do we try and flip him for a top 4 Dman, or do we flip him for picks? And if we do trade him, will we be able to get anything good in return for him? Or do we stick with him and hope that he returns to his former level of play next season.
Thats_A_Sassy_Man
I usually try and stay away from the trolls but I’m really in sick and tired of it. People like you are the reason Knight felt he had to step away from the team and try and get better mentally after having an off year. Blow it out yer ass
SpinningFree93
Heās always been an offensive defenseman who relied on physical traits more than anything.
His injuries have hampered his physical abilities (when is the last time you saw him out skate someone?) and the new system has hampered his offense plays (how many 5 man rushes have we had this season?).
Itās a bad combo thatās left him as a bad fit.
Usually youād want both your defensemen on the ice able to handle the blue line, with one being faster and more offense focused and the other knowing how to be in the right place at the right time and able to shut down any opposing players trying to get out of the zone.
Our fast d men are Forsling and Montour, our right place at the right time d men are Gudas and Staal. Mahura is sort of in the middle but he rarely makes mistakes so it works.
Ekblad is still trying to play like he did last season but the rest of the team isnāt. So heās making mistakes, heās too slow to correct them, and itās causing other team mates to step in when they can but that ends up pulling them out of position. Itās just a bad fit.
Duke has sort of the same problem but heās adjusting. There have been a few time where heāll get the puck and take off like thereās about to be a 5 man rush, only to end up waiting on everyone because they werenāt ready for it like they were last season.
And I suspect that Flyers game looked so bad because no one knew who to cover or where to be without the usual lines/pairings. I donāt think they had time to sort it out between the back to back games and the Flyers took advantage.
layout420
I think the bigger questions that need to be answered are why is he being used in the role he is….? As much as it’s a players responsibility to manage their play, it’s also the coaching staffs responsibility to play their players to their strengths. I don’t see that happening with Ekblad. I’ve been calling for a role reversal with Ekblad for 75% of the season. He needs to remain off the ice in high pressure situations as well as transitions. It’s up to coaching staff to get the best of their players and find solutions when it just isn’t working. Blame Maurice.
BuddhaBarkov
and yet, Gudas, Staal, and even Montour all make more brain dead defensive plays.
It might be the lack of defensive structure or system that leaves defenders exposed because it does not ask them to play defense. It excuses them to run around and be unaware of whats behind them.
8 Comments
Lmfao
Maybe he should rock those shades when he plays, maybe he could play better defense š¤Ø
Well when you have a major knee injury followed by a major ankle injury which is in turn followed by a major groin injury, it may take some time to recover fully both physically and mentally.
Keep in mind he had some pretty bad concussion issues early in his career as well. Dude has had some awful injury luck. When heās fully healthy, he gets Norris votes. But his injury history has been brutal and it may be a full season before he settles in. Kind of like EK65 is doing now. EK had some serious injuries in the past which took him some time to recover from as well.
The bigger question is, how do the Panthers want to handle Ekblad.? I canāt imagine his trade value is much thanks to said injury history and idk if anyone has noticed, but heās not seeing major minutes on special teams. Montour is taking over that role.
So do we try and flip him for a top 4 Dman, or do we flip him for picks? And if we do trade him, will we be able to get anything good in return for him? Or do we stick with him and hope that he returns to his former level of play next season.
I usually try and stay away from the trolls but I’m really in sick and tired of it. People like you are the reason Knight felt he had to step away from the team and try and get better mentally after having an off year. Blow it out yer ass
Heās always been an offensive defenseman who relied on physical traits more than anything.
His injuries have hampered his physical abilities (when is the last time you saw him out skate someone?) and the new system has hampered his offense plays (how many 5 man rushes have we had this season?).
Itās a bad combo thatās left him as a bad fit.
Usually youād want both your defensemen on the ice able to handle the blue line, with one being faster and more offense focused and the other knowing how to be in the right place at the right time and able to shut down any opposing players trying to get out of the zone.
Our fast d men are Forsling and Montour, our right place at the right time d men are Gudas and Staal. Mahura is sort of in the middle but he rarely makes mistakes so it works.
Ekblad is still trying to play like he did last season but the rest of the team isnāt. So heās making mistakes, heās too slow to correct them, and itās causing other team mates to step in when they can but that ends up pulling them out of position. Itās just a bad fit.
Duke has sort of the same problem but heās adjusting. There have been a few time where heāll get the puck and take off like thereās about to be a 5 man rush, only to end up waiting on everyone because they werenāt ready for it like they were last season.
And I suspect that Flyers game looked so bad because no one knew who to cover or where to be without the usual lines/pairings. I donāt think they had time to sort it out between the back to back games and the Flyers took advantage.
I think the bigger questions that need to be answered are why is he being used in the role he is….? As much as it’s a players responsibility to manage their play, it’s also the coaching staffs responsibility to play their players to their strengths. I don’t see that happening with Ekblad. I’ve been calling for a role reversal with Ekblad for 75% of the season. He needs to remain off the ice in high pressure situations as well as transitions. It’s up to coaching staff to get the best of their players and find solutions when it just isn’t working. Blame Maurice.
and yet, Gudas, Staal, and even Montour all make more brain dead defensive plays.
It might be the lack of defensive structure or system that leaves defenders exposed because it does not ask them to play defense. It excuses them to run around and be unaware of whats behind them.
It’s part of his last name.