Aaron Ekblad Learns Tough Lesson from PED Suspension
“There’s so many ways you look at it,” Ekblad said. “Respect, integrity and character, family name, my teammates, fans. It’s every single way you look at it.”
FORT LAUDERDALE — Aaron Ekblad learned a valuable lesson while serving a 20-game suspension for taking a performance-enhancing substance while rehabbing an injury.
“It was the toughest,” he said.
The 29-year-old defenseman said in a statement that he had took something to help him recover from a recent injury without checking in with team personnel. He failed a random drug test and has been suspended since March 10.
“There’s so many ways you look at it,” Ekblad said. “Respect, integrity and character, family name, my teammates, fans. It’s every single way you look at it. The money I lose on top off all that, not that I care about it. I would give it all back to play and take it all back again.
“I have a lot of regret, but it is what it is. I have to find a way to move forward.”
Ekblad was cleared to return to team activities on Thursday after spending a month away from the team. He will not be eligible to play until Game 3 of the playoffs.
“That’ll be the toughest two games, of course,” Ekblad said of the prospect of him missing Games 1 and 2 of the postseason.
“That’s obvious, so I’m just going to try and keep myself in the best shape as I can, so that when Game 3 comes around, it’s easy for me to come back in. It’s not my first time coming into the playoffs cold, after injuries even, but those two games will be very tough to watch, for sure.”
He had been preparing for the postseason on his own, skating at the team’s practice facility with former Panthers defenseman Keith Yandle while the team was not there and watching games on his own.
“I had to be out of the facility when the team was here, so no team activities,” Ekblad said. “I was able to skate and work out, draw up my own on-ice programs the best I could.
“I’d watch the games. I’d see something [Gustav Forsling] would do and try and mimic it in practice the next day. So, It was a good lesson in being my own coach. … There were a lot of hours skating and working out alone but it was fun to put myself to work in a way that I haven’t before.”
After getting cleared by the NHL and NHL Players Association on Thursday, Ekblad has been able to practice with the team as it prepares for another playoff run.
“It’s important to make passes, receive passes,” Ekblad said. “I’ve been telling guys if they catch me with my head down, to lean into me a little bit just so I can get that feeling back because that’s the nature of the beast in the playoffs.
“I’m trying to get as many game-like reps as I can and these 10 days are huge for that.”
For a team that is currently jockeying for playoff positioning — and doing so with stars like Matthew Tkachuk, Aleksander Barkov and Sam Bennett missing time with injuries along the way — Ekblad’s presence during morning skates has been a good vibe shift for the team as well.
“Way better chirps,” coach Paul Maurice said. “He’s been taking some savage abuse out there, but all in good fun.
“And you put another guy that side on your blue line that’s got that range, even in the morning skate drills, and it changes the way you look. And there’s an excitement when you have those players. It’ll be the same thing when Matthew joins our group hopefully next week.”
And for Ekblad, it marks a chance to come into a postseason with a clean bill of health, which is something he has not had in a while.
He missed the end of the 2021-22 regular season with a lower-body injury and come into the postseason cold. Ekblad sustained a slew of injuries in the 2022-23 season coming into the playoffs and finished the team’s run to the 2023 Cup Final with a shoulder injury that kept him out for the first month of the following season.
“I felt good all year before I broke my hand [in January,] and then obviously all of this happening,” Ekblad said.
“It’s obviously a ton of rest. My body hasn’t felt this good since coming into Game 1 of the season, so it’s almost like a mini training camp. It’s the best I’ve felt for sure.”