Aaron Ekblad looked to get payback on Brandon Hagel, and he did so with a dirty, illegal headshot, and now the Lightning veteran has responded.
The 2025 Battle of Florida was one of the most physical series in recent Stanley Cup Playoffs memory, and for the most part, Tampa Bay's Brandon Hagel was at the centre of it all.
It began in Game 2 with a dirty hit on Aleksander Barkov that earned him a one-game suspension, and when he returned to the series, the Panthers were clearly looking for revenge.
That happened when Aaron Ekblad laid this dirty hit on Hagel, resulting in a two-game suspension for intentionally hitting an opponent in the head, something that the NHL has certainly looked to eliminate from the game entirely.
After the series has now ended, veteran forward Hagel has commented on the entire situation, and it's safe to say that even though the 2024/25 campaign is over for Tampa Bay, this isn't the last we've heard of this situation.
'Purposefully going for someone's head, it's as bad as it gets.If you're going to go for someone's head, something's coming for ya.'
This is a completely fair reaction from Hagel, and although his original hit wasn't clean as Barkov did not have the puck, the revenge certainly took it to a level that wasn't necessary in the slightest.
As we've seen in recent years, head injuries are certainly nothing to mess with in the NHL given how physical the game can be, so to intentionally go after someone's head, that's not the right play from the veteran defenseman.
Now, we will wait and see where Ekblad ends up in free agency this upcoming off-season, and wherever it is, it's safe to assume that the next time he plays Tampa Bay, things could get ugly.
