In The Athletic’s Every NHL team’s worst value contract in 2025-26 writer Harman Dayal tabbed defenseman Aaron Ekblad as the Florida Panthers example with “honorable” mention to forwards Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe.
Florida’s Most Inefficient Contracts in 2025-26:
- Aaron Ekblad Net Rating: -0.4 Cap Hit: $6.1 million Years: 7
- Sam Bennett Net Rating: 5.1 Cap Hit: $8 million Years: 7
- Carter Verhaeghe Net Rating: 3.7 Cap Hit: $7 million Years: 7
Aaron Ekblad: Big-picture, Ekblad’s $6.1 million cap hit is still a team-friendly number. Ekblad’s underlying numbers took a significant hit in 2025-26, but I fully expect those two-way metrics to rebound next season once Aleksander Barkov returns to the lineup — Ekblad’s pair shares a ton of minutes with the Barkov line. Just chalk this one up as an off year.
Sam Bennett and Carter Verhaeghe are slightly overpaid relative to their regular-season contributions, but it doesn’t matter because both are extremely clutch in the playoffs.
The real killer was Sergei Bobrovsky — he slumped to an .877 save percentage despite his $10 million cap hit.
Despite their postseason miss, DraftKings gives the Panthers the fourth-best (tied with the Oilers) odds of reclaiming the Stanley Cup in 2026-27. Defending champions Carolina (+700) tops the list with Colorado (+800), Vegas (+850), Florida (+1100) and Edmonton (+1100) rounding out the top-five.
Speaking of Carolina, the Hurricanes brought their Stanley Cup celebration to downtown Raleigh on Saturday, drawing a crowd that police estimated at 150,000, according to city public information officer Julia Milstead. That represented nearly a third of Raleigh’s population.
At the celebration, forward Nicolas Deslauriers re-upped with the Bunch of Jerks, inking a two-year contract extension worth $1.75 million. Deslauriers collected one assist in seven games with the Hurricanes after being acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers on March 6. He appeared in one game during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Columbus Blue Jackets re-signed defenseman Corson Ceulemans to a one-year deal worth $850K. Ceulemans, 23, spent the 2025-26 season with the AHL’s Cleveland Monsters, where he produced eight goals and 24 points in 64 games.