Jeff Marek Reveals He Believed Aaron Ekblad Would End Up on One Specific Central Team

NHL analyst Jeff Marek is revealing the NHL team that he believed that Florida Panthers UFA defenseman Aaron Ekblad was going to sign with this summer.

Florida Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad was one of the more coveted names that was thought to be heading to the open market this summer after winning his 2nd straight Stanley Cup.

But before teams even had the chance to legally speak with Ekblad about a contract, he re-signed with the Panthers on an 8 year deal with an AAV (average annual value) of $6.1 million.

NHL analyst Jeff Marek recently said he thought that Ekblad would sign with the Utah Mammoth, who were previously known as the Utah Hockey Club during their 1st year in Salt Lake City.

Jeff Marek: Re Aaron Ekblad staying in Florida: I would have thought Ekblad would be...the most certain to go to like, Detroit; I thought he was going to Utah if he went anywhere - The Sheet (8/12)

Instead, Ekblad will continue to pursue the Stanley Cup with the Panthers, who also convinced both Sam Bennett and Brad Marchand to re-sign.

Jeff Marek Thought the Utah Hockey Club Would Land Cup Champion Aaron Ekblad

While the Mammoth weren't able to sign Ekblad, they did manage to sign a pair of Panthers players who had just raised the Stanley Cup.

First, they signed defenseman Nate Schmidt, who was coming off his 1st and only year with the Panthers; he had 19 points (5G, 14A) in 80 games.

Then they signed backup goaltender Vitek Vanecek, who had been acquired by the Panthers from the San Jose Sharks at the Trade Deadline and played backup to Sergei Bobrovsky throughout the playoffs.

He'll back up Utah starter Karel Vejmelka.