Early discussions of an extension
The Panthers have three important players who will be entering the final year of their individual contracts on July 1st, making them eligible for extensions at that point, as if those imminent free agents weren’t noteworthy enough.
Zito shouldn’t rush into locking them down, but he should at least have an idea of what those players are asking for because that will probably affect the number of their current free agents (all of whom should demand multi-year contracts) that they can attempt to re-sign.
The player in question is Carter Verhaeghe. He had not yet established himself as a full-time NHL player when he came with Florida. After just four years, his offensive game has taken off and he has become one of the NHL’s better deals.
He scored 42 goals and dished out 31 assists in 2022–2023; this season, he has scored 34 goals and provided 38 assists. His top-line performance will put him in a position to demand a long-term contract and a substantial rise.
To put things in perspective, Verhaeghe has a $4.167M cap charge right now yet only made $1M in his first two seasons with the Panthers. He might be able to double that the next time out with an AAV that should arrive around the $8M range.
Aaron Ekblad, meanwhile, will soon require a new contract on the back end. He signed an eight-year contract with an AAV of $7.5 million, which at the time set a record for a defenseman coming off of an entry-level contract. With the exception of the 2021–22 season, Ekblad never really took off offensively, but the Panthers have still done rather well with that contract because he has been a workhorse for the majority of it.
His playing time was somewhat restricted this season due to injury concerns, though; his 20:52 per game was a career low. It’s possible that Florida will attempt to persuade him to accept a little less this time, which would make it more difficult to close a deal in the upcoming weeks. According to PuckPedia, he has a new agent: Craig Oster of Newport will be representing him going forward.
And Sam Bennett comes next. Although his career-high of 49 points doesn’t seem impressive during the regular season, he is coming off of two excellent postseason outings in which he produced at a higher rate—something that doesn’t usually happen.
In addition, he plays center and is a power forward. Given that combo, many teams will be preparing to make offers, thus it makes sense that he will receive a sizable raise from his current $4.425 million AAV.
Once more, they are not required to sign these players right now. Zito should have enough knowledge just by knowing what the asking prices are probably going to be to create a plan for his next free agents.