The Florida Panthers have become the envy of many in the NHL as they continue to lock up their talented core group of players to long-term deals.
Fresh off the first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history, the Panthers made the latest in a strong of moves designed to keep the team in title contention for years to come.
On Tuesday, Florida signed forward Carter Verhaeghe to an eight-year contract extension that kicks in next season worth $56 million.
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He joins Sam Reinhart as players who the Panthers have inked to lengthy deals over the past several months; Reinhart signed an eight-year, $69 million extension back on July 1.
It’s part of a growing trend in South Florida.
“Typical of the experience of being in that room, you’ve got some elite players who have had some success in their careers, and they want to stay,” said Panthers Head Coach Paul Maurice. “What you love is, I don’t think their primary decision is about the money. I don’t think that’s the driver for them.”
He’s probably on to something there.
Verhaeghe’s new deal comes with an average annual value (AAV) of $7 million and Reinhart’s has an AAV of $8.625.
But what about Florida’s other core players who are locked up long term? So glad you asked.
Panthers captain Sasha Barkov is signed through 2030 and carries an AAV of $10 million, while Matthew Tkachuk makes an AAV of $9.5 million, also through 2030.
Could both earn more on the open market? Oh yeah.
Young center Anton Lundell is also signed through 2030, and he’s earning an AAV of $5 million.
Defenseman Gus Forsling signed a max extension earlier this year that comes with a $5.7 million AAV. He’s signed through 2032.
Florida also has forwards Eetu Luostarinen and Evan Rodrigues signed through 2027 with the same $3 million AAV, and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov signed a four-year extension over the summer that keeps in with the Panthers through 2028 while earning an AAV of $1.15 million.
“Everybody gets paid way too much in hockey, coaches included, let me just qualify that, but we’ve got some elite guys who could probably take in an awful lot more on the open market,” Maurice said. “It’s the culture of the room, it’s not the coaches, it’s nobody else, it’s those guys in the room. They do it for each other, because they don’t want to leave, they don’t want to leave what they have. They know they can be great players here because they have been, and they’re all respected in the room. Every time that happens – Sam Reinhart and Gustav Forsling signing last year – it just builds that bond between them all.”
With Verhaeghe locked up, Florida General Manager Bill Zito will be focused on his two remaining pending free agents who are also key members of the Panthers core: Aaron Ekblad and Sam Bennett.
Both have been essential pieces to what Zito and his staff have built in South Florida.
If they are going to stick around, though, it would make sense that they would need to be willing to leave a little money on the table, as many of their locked up Panthers teammates have done.
We’ll see how things play out in the coming weeks and months.
Stay tuned.
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