Seattle

Panthers decline. They don’t want bjorkstrand

That offer isn't even in the ballpark for Aaron Ekblad, Ekblad and his Fiancee are building a new home in Windsor Ontario Canada he wants to be close to his new home. So yeah he waives to be over 2,400 miles from it. I don't think so.

Honestly I don't see how this trade makes sense for either side. Florida's right in the middle of their cup window, and Ekblad's a crucial piece of that, so I don't know why they'd consider moving him. Seattle's competitive timeline is farther out in the future, so trading for a rental defenseman doesn't really add up for them either. Not to mention, the Kraken have a good defensive group already but have a need for more scoring up front. Trading one of their top scorers for a blueliner, even one as good as Ekblad, would be counterproductive.

FLA gets rid of a guy that is oft-injured with a high cap hit. This allows them to re-sign other guys and add a 20-goal guy that could be a 30-goal guy in the FLA top 6 imo + recouping some picks lost via trades the last few seasons.

SEA adds a top pairing defenseman that would solidify their d-core. They add Stephenson via FA as well who only had 8 less goals than Bjorkstrand over the past two seasons— and Ekblad had 18 over that time period. So they’re technically adding more goals with these moves.

That’s the basic premise. I just FLA should consider moving Ekblad and that Bjorkstrand is an interesting option for them.