The Florida Panthers and defenseman Matt Kiersted have reached an agreement on a one-year, two-way contract, according to a statement made today by General Manager Bill Zito and President of Hockey Operations.
With the Charlotte Checkers, Kiersted, 26, played in 57 American Hockey League (AHL) games and recorded 15 points (4-11-15) and a plus-14 rating. Kiersted has played in 169 AHL games with Charlotte from 2021–2022 and has scored 56 points (15–41–56) and accrued 161 penalty minutes. Kiersted played for Florida in 37 NHL games over his career (2020–21 to 2022-23).
With the University of North Dakota, the 6-foot, 181-pound product of Elk River, Minnesota, scored 77 points (20-57-77) over 127 NCAA games, leading the club to the 2020–21 National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) Title and Penrose Cup. After leading all UND defensemen in points in each of his final three seasons, he was awarded a 2020–21 NCHC First Team All-Star. In addition, he made it to the finals of the NCHC Offensive Defenseman of the Year 2019–20 after scoring 29 points (6-23-29) in 33 games, which ranked third among defensemen in the country.
Kiersted signed with Florida on April 1, 2021, as a free agent after being undrafted.
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