The NHL is protecting the Florida Panthers, and Aaron Ekblad is the clearest evidence on tape. On October 21 in Ottawa, he's alleged to have caught Shane Pinto with an elbow — an incident that's still unconfirmed and undocumented beyond the chatter, with no penalty called on the play either way. The penalty summary from that night lists him for high-sticking and holding. No elbowing minor. The Department of Player Safety hasn't announced a hearing or a ruling. If you've watched this player over the last two years, you already know how it ends.
April 28, 2025, Game 4 of a first-round series against Tampa Bay. Ekblad skated in on Brandon Hagel near the boards, pulled his right arm back, and caught the right side of Hagel's head. Hagel's head bounced off the ice, he was pulled with concussion concerns and didn't come back, and no penalty was called. Ekblad stayed on the ice and tied the game with 3:47 left in regulation.
The league suspended him two games. In its own words, the hit was "a direct blow to an opponent's head with an extended elbow, delivered with requisite force for supplemental discipline." That was Ekblad's first DOPS suspension in an 11-year career.
Hold two games next to Charlie McAvoy. This past spring McAvoy got six games for a two-handed slash across Zach Benson's torso. The league said it came down harder because the slash was intentional, forceful retribution delivered after the outcome of the game and the series had already been decided. Six games for a slash to the body. Two for an elbow the NHL itself called a direct blow to the head. Do the math, because the Department of Player Safety clearly did.
Go back further. Game 2 of the 2024 Stanley Cup Final: cameras caught Ekblad with his arm wrapped around Evan Bouchard's neck, Bouchard slapping at it like a man trying to tap out. No penalty on the play, and no supplementary discipline after it. This is the same player who served a 20-game suspension for violating the league's PED policy, the ban that had him returning for Game 3 of that Tampa series in the first place.
Hockey is fast, scrums are chaos, and a referee can't catch every arm that comes up near the glass in real time. One missed call is a missed call. But run the same player and the same team through the same outcome this many times and it starts looking like a choice the league is making.
Gregory Campbell is the Panthers' assistant general manager. His father, Colin Campbell, was the league's chief disciplinarian for years and still runs hockey operations. None of that proves any single ruling was rigged, but it does mean the line between Florida's front office and the people who govern discipline is a family one, and the league has never acted like that's a problem worth addressing.
The frustration building around the sport is the predictable result. When the body that's supposed to protect players keeps deciding not to, players start planning to protect themselves. That's how you end up with someone answering an elbow with something uglier while the league acts surprised.
Ekblad throws the elbows. The Department of Player Safety decides what they cost. Right now the price for wearing a Panthers sweater is a shrug.
