Carter Verhaeghe immediately cemented himself as a core top-four piece for the Panthers after initially landing there as a free agent in 2020. Now in the prime of his career, the 29-year-old could be one of the top unrestricted free agents on the market next summer with a major chance to cash in.
But Verhaeghe has been working on an extension to stay in Florida ever since he became eligible to sign one on July 1, David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period reported at the time. The forward recently told the Associated Press’ Colby Guy for Pucks and Palms that the goal remains to sign a new deal and that he’s not concerned about starting the regular season without a contract.
Verhaeghe hit the 30-goal and 70-point marks last season for the second year in a row and is entering the final year of a three-year, $12.5MM deal that’s proven to be one of the best values in the NHL over the past few campaigns. His 11 goals in 24 postseason games in 2024 led the Panthers en route to the franchise’s first Stanley Cup.
More from Florida:
- The club could be without free agent addition Tomáš Nosek to start the season. Head coach Paul Maurice said Tuesday that the center will be out “weeks, not days,” with an upper-body injury he sustained during preseason action against the Predators on Sunday (via The Hockey News’ David Dwork). Maurice added it’s not a concussion-related injury. Nosek signed a one-year, league-minimum pact when free agency opened and was expected to start the season as their fourth-line center. He’s coming off an injury-plagued season with the Devils that limited him to six points in 36 appearances with a -11 rating.
- All signs point to Spencer Knight returning to the NHL ranks this season and beating out veteran competition Chris Driedger for the backup job to Sergei Bobrovsky to open the season. Maurice told Dwork that the 23-year-old has looked strong in training camp and is “back on that curve” in regards to development. Knight hasn’t played an NHL game since entering the NHL/NHLPA Player Assistance Program in February 2023 and spent all of last season on assignment to the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers, where he had a .905 SV% and 2.41 GAA in 45 games. The 2019 13th overall pick has two years left on his contract at a $4.5MM cap hit.