Florida Panthers 2025 Roster Preview: Top Pair Defensemen

The Florida Panthers thrive off being a defense-first team. That impressive defensive prowess has led them to back-to-back Stanley Cups, and with a top pairing of Gustav Forsling and Aaron Ekblad, they’re in great hands on the back end. With both d-men on eight-year extensions, this pair is going to be together for years to come, and they’ve been elite at shutting down opponents’ best players come playoff time. Their chemistry together has been amazing, and both players have spoken about how much they love playing with the other. Aaron even said in an interview after he re-signed that getting to play with Forsling was a big factor in wanting to stay. A deadly duo defensively, Florida’s top pair is daunting to play against when they always seem to be in the right place at the right time.

Gustav Forsling:

Despite an incredible year last year, Forsling is still somehow one of the most underrated defensemen in the league because he’s not a points machine. His numbers were slightly down from last season, but there was enough offense coming from other places in the lineup that he doesn’t need to worry about being the biggest offensive threat on the ice. In 80 games, he scored 31 pts (11G, 20A) with 195 SOG for a 5.6 shooting percentage, well within his average. Special teams-wise, he doesn’t see much action on the power play, only as necessary, but he’s the team’s strongest PK player outside of Bobrovsky. He scored 1 PPA, 1 SHG, 1SHA, and 1 GWG with an average TOI of 22:56; only Ekblad and Jones had more ice time than him, and they both play consistent powerplay minutes. Night to night, Forsling gets the toughest assignments against other teams’ best players, and he’s still arguably the best in the world at his style of play. A vital piece to Florida’s postseason success and instrumental in shutting down players like Kucherov, Matthews, Nylander, Aho, Draisaitl, and McDavid, Gus played all 23 playoff games. He scored just 5 points with 1 goal & 4 assists, but he was a career high +/- +13, up from the +9 he was a year prior. Although his shooting percentage was down to 3.2 from 7.8 last season, his single goal during the Carolina series got him on the scoresheet and meant that the Panthers got goals from seven unique defensemen. He also had 1 PPA, and his singular goal was the game-winner. Forsling had a TOI of 23:16 during the playoffs with 31 SOG, second only to Ekblad in SOG by a defenseman. Forsling had an amazing year, capped off with a second Stanley Cup. It’s been talked about to death at this point, but it’s an incredible story from getting put on waivers to two-time Stanley Cup Champion. Florida took a chance on him, and he proved them right while putting in the work to become as great as he is. Often referred to as the fittest player on the team, Gus has an amazing motor to keep going. I talked about it last year, but his hockey IQ and positioning are top-notch. He’s almost always in the right place at the right time. He made an unreal play during the Cup Final, where he was sliding on the ice and used his stick to knock the puck off the Oilers’ stick. He was a part of Team Sweden during the Four Nations Faceoff and will likely be on the Olympic team, although he’s not been named as one of the first six players.

Aaron Ekblad:

Likely to be a career Panther, Aaron Ekblad signed his eight-year extension this summer and will be locked up long term like nine other teammates. Ekblad was tasked with taking on a more offensive role as the Cats had him take over the top PP unit. In 56 games, he put up 33 pts (3G, 30A) with 106 SOG for a 2.8 shooting percentage. He did an excellent job on the PP until Jones took over. Eventually, the Panthers opted to run them both on the top PP unit to give their second unit extra depth for the playoffs. He averaged 23:30 TOI, which is the second-highest of his career; his career high is 23:38, set during the 2018-19 season. Of course, he missed the final 18 games of the season with the suspension and the first two games of the playoffs. A second suspension for his hit on Brandon Hagel earned him another two-game suspension, so he only played in 19 of Florida’s 23 playoff games. Despite that, he still put up 13 pts (4G, 9A) and shot at an 11.1% with 36 SOG. On special teams, he had 1 PPG & 3 PPA and a career-high 23:59 TOI; second only to Jones, who averaged over 25 minutes a night. Aaron’s quick to defend his teammates like so many others on the team, so it’s not surprising to see him get into scraps; Aaron set a career high in playoff PIMs. The hit he threw on Hagel was over the line, and he did deserve a penalty for it. Ultimately, he did get given a 2-game suspension, causing him to miss the final game of the Tampa series and the first game of the Toronto series. While I do understand where the motivation was coming from for the Hagel hit, it was too much. But that is a recurring theme in this Florida lineup, there were several players telling opponents to keep their heads up after hits the Cats didn’t like. Tkachuk, on camera, was seen telling Aho that after the hit on Reinhart. Ekblad didn’t go to the Four Nations, but he has received an invite to the Team Canada Orientation Camp. He’s a heart and soul player for the Panthers, and as he said during media for the Cup Final, he bleeds Florida Panthers.

Thoughts On Ekblad’s Suspension:

Ekblad is another Florida player for whom there’s a narrative or controversy that follows him. Last year, it was injuries; this year, it was the drug test suspension. There was speculation about Florida going out and getting Jones because they knew the suspension was coming. I don’t agree with that sentiment. The Cats were looking to replace Brandon Montour, and they’d spent most of the season in need of another right-shot defenseman. They got Jones days before the trade deadline, and the suspension came after the deadline had come and gone. If reports are accurate, the results of drug tests come back within 48 hours, so working off of that, the test would’ve been done after the trade deadline expired. I only have Ekblad’s statement to work off of, where he said that he had taken something for an injury he’d gotten in January, but it wasn’t cleared by the team doctors. It’s absolutely on him for taking something that wasn’t cleared, but given his long injury history, I think it’s worth taking him at his word for this incident. I’d like to remind those who want to keep bringing it up and insinuate that Florida won because they were cheating, that Valeri Nichushkin was also suspended for failing a drug test and then failed his follow-up, which led to a six-month suspension. Ekblad didn’t fail his follow-up and missed two playoff games as part of the suspension. The Panthers won the two games he missed in the playoffs against Tampa. Was it a stupid decision? Yes. Was it hardcore evidence that the entire Florida team is doing PEDs and they’re all cheating? No. Aaron had a better offensive year because he was getting time on the power play again, and he’s on a team that’s in its prime Cup Window right now. Hopefully, this subject can be put to rest, and things can move forward going into next season.