Florida Panthers: Breaking up Ekblad and Yandle is a Necessary Move

After six games of countless defensive errors and breakdowns, Bob Boughner has finally fired a bullet that needed to be fired: Aaron Ekblad and Keith Yandle are no longer a defensive pair.

Ekblad and Yandle have talked consistently about how much they like playing with each other, and for the Florida Panthers, it did pay dividends, especially offensively.

Yandle is always good to rack up points, and Ekblad’s offensive production skyrocketed last season too.

But this season, while Yandle has picked up points, Ekblad hasn’t and more critically, the defensive errors this pair has made has directly cost the Panthers goals.

For that, it seemed inevitable that eventually, the pair would be broken up and now it has.

So why hasn’t this pair worked? The pairing, in theory, should have a solid balance between offense and defense, especially with Yandle’s offensive acumen. But, this theory has foundational problems.

If Yandle is caught up ice trying to push the play, Ekblad is left alone with little help and is sometimes not the best defender one v. one.

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Yandle has also struggled in his career at 5-on-5, and that again is borne out in the numbers: while Ekblad is at a 53.45% CF and Rel of 2.98, Yandle is only at a 50.57% and a Rel of -1.47, all while Yandle somehow starts more shifts in the defensive zone.

Ekblad’s offensive instincts are neutered in this pairing while his defensive frailties are highlights because of the role the coaching staff wants Yandle to play. And when you look at numbers for players when Yandle is off the ice, their possession numbers (particularly Ekblad) tend to improve.

Under Bob Boughner, the Panthers have only broken up Yandle and Ekblad for an appreciable period only once: a January game last year against Columbus.

In that game, Ekblad played with Matheson and Yandle played with Pysyk. The Panthers didn’t play well in that game and by the third period, the usual pairings were back together.

Ekblad and Matheson had a poor game in puck possession, while Yandle and Pysyk performed better, though Yandle’s 5-on-5 performance was inferior compared to Pysyk’s in puck possession metrics.

Yandle needs someone who will cover for him defensively and put out fires while he tries to drive play in the offensive zone – and in theory – Alexander Petrovic should be able to do that, though he and Yandle aren’t exactly a fast pairing.

Boughner has always been willing to shuffle his lines, and usually, it jump starts the offense for a brief period.

The same has not been true for the defense pairings, which has cost this team numerous points with the repeated defensive breakdowns and frailties of pairings that have been proven to not work.

While these might not be at the moment ideal, it will help balance a team that is where it is not because of its offense, but because of its defensive lapses.

Starting these pairings off in a game against the Rangers is also a solid idea since the Rangers are one of the few teams that have played as poorly as the Panthers have to start the season.

Bob Boughner needs to be committed to these pairings and not revert to his old pairings if things go awry, because the foundations of something more positive for the Panthers might be built with the risk of new defensive pairings.

It’s been more than past due for the defensive pairings to be swapped, and hopefully, it’s a sign of things to come.

There’s little margin for error anymore after another slow start, and the time to make bold decisions is now.

dark. Next. Panthers Fail to Make it Two in a Row

Boughner and the Panthers are out of their comfort zone, but if the risk pays off, this team could get much-needed defensive solidity and finally find some consistency and wins when they are desperately needed.

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