Ekblad has been dealing with shoulder issues for a while, says 'we're going to get it fixed'

Several Florida Panthers players were dealing with injuries as the team marched to the Stanley Cup Final.

Defenseman Aaron Ekblad suffered a broken foot in just the second game of what would turn out to be a 21-game playoff run.

Ekblad admitted that he didn’t actually find out the foot was fractured until after Florida eliminated Toronto in the second round.

“You think it’s fine, you just assume that it’s fine…but once you get the imaging done, you look at that,” he said.

Not that it made a difference.

Ekblad suited up for each and every one of those games, averaging 23:57 of ice time. That’s over 30 seconds higher than his average TOI this season.

Interestingly enough, Ekblad’s plus/minus during the regular season was minus-14, but during the playoffs he was a plus-9.

Ekblad said the hope is that he won’t need surgery on his foot, but it wasn’t just a foot injury that he was dealing with.

There was also a lingering upper-body ailment that was reaggravated during the conference final.

Despite the multiple injuries he was playing through, Ekblad’s efforts on the defensive end were a big reason why Florida was able to shut down teams like Toronto and Carolina during their improbable playoff run.

Speaking to the media on Thursday from FLA Live Arena, the 27-year-old revealed that a painful shoulder injury would keep him from at least the start of training camp in a few months.

In addition to the foot fracture, Ekblad also suffered a dislocated right shoulder during the conference final against Carolina. It’s a shoulder he’s had issues with in the past, and now the decision has been made to have surgery and get it completely cleaned up.

“That’s been a problem for a long time for me, so we’re going to get it fixed,” he said.

Ekblad didn’t say when the surgery would happen, and he may not even know yet. The team hadn’t been back in South Florida for 24 hours when he sat down with the media.

Either way, Ekblad said he expects to miss a little bit of time when the team reconvenes in Coral Springs later this year.

“I won't be ready for September, but shortly after that,” he said. “We're going to work through (the shoulder injury) this summer.”

As for a second dislocated shoulder that Paul Maurice mentioned after Game 5, Ekblad laughed while setting the record straight.

“Just one,” said Ekblad with a smile. “I don't know where the second one came from.”

To be fair, it’s perfectly conceivable to think that Maurice may have been confusing one player’s injury with another, or perhaps he was just thinking of Ekblad’s past history with that same shoulder.

That’s something the young rearguard is hopeful not to have to deal with anymore.

Ultimately, this season proved to be equal parts rewarding and challenging for Ekblad.

Gaining the valuable knowledge and experience of a deep playoff run will only help the veteran leaders like Ekblad when Florida gets back into similar situations down the road.

When that time comes, hopefully, for the players’ sake, the injury bug stays away from their locker room.

“It wasn’t easy,” Ekblad admitted, before adding, “But it was worth it, and it was fun.”