The Florida Panthers have announced the signing of defenseman Aaron Ekblad to a three-year, entry-level contract.
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet” lang=”en”><p><a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlaPanthers?src=hash”>#FlaPanthers</a> sign No. 1 overall <a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/NHLDraft?src=hash”>#NHLDraft</a> pick <a href=”https://twitter.com/EK5Colts”>@Ek5Colts</a>. MORE: <a href=”http://t.co/1qtyzImpTM”>http://t.co/1qtyzImpTM</a> <a href=”http://t.co/dlY3a0GARy”>pic.twitter.com/dlY3a0GARy</a></p>— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) <a href=”https://twitter.com/FlaPanthers/status/507166864384876544″>September 3, 2014</a></blockquote>
<script async src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
The Cats grabbed Ekblad with the first overall pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft on June 27th in Philadelphia. The 18-year-old, who was granted “exceptional player” status by the OHL, amassed 40 goals and 76 assists in three seasons with the Barrie Colts.
Ekblad is coming off a concussion suffered at Team Canada’s world junior training camp in August, but is reportedly 100% recovered as he readies to win a roster spot on the big club in training camp. The rookie will be taking part in the team’s prospects camp which opens on September 11. The Cats’ prospects will quickly head to Nashville for a round-robin tournament with games against the Predators, Bruins and Lightning from September 13-16.