The Panthers will be banking on all the production they can get out of Barky and Ek. The two are the best in regards to their respective positions (Forward and Defense). Both, will have a tremendous amount of expectations heading into this season.
Both Barkov and Ekblad experienced injured riddled seasons last year. Aleksander, participated in only 61 games last year (2nd fewest behind his rookie campaign), while Aaron only took place in 68 games himself (fewest in his career thus far). Both will need to avoid the injury bug, if the Cats are ever going to succeed and make the postseason.