Carter Verhaeghe was already halfway dressed for the Florida Panthers’ season opener against the Boston Bruins on Tuesday when he was summoned to meet with president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito.
When Verhaeghe returned to the dressing room, Aleksander Barkov, as subtly as he could, approached his teammate and asked a question that most in the room probably had on their mind.
“Yeah,” Verhaeghe replied to the team captain, “I’m gonna be your teammate for a while.”
Verhaeghe’s pregame meeting with Zito was to finalize Verhaeghe’s eight-year, $56 million contract extension that kicks into effect next season and keeps Verhaeghe signed with Florida through the 2032-33 season. It’s a deal that has been in the works for a while now and came to fruition right before the season officially began.
“This guy’s a Florida Panther,” Zito said postgame while formally announcing the extension.
And so continues a trend that has taken place during Zito’s tenure with the Panthers. As the team has witnessed sustained success, evidenced by a Presidents’ Trophy in 2022, a Stanley Cup Final appearance in 2023 and finally a Stanley Cup championship last season, Zito has worked diligently to ensure the team’s core stays in place. And as the sustained success carries year over year, the core is making it known that it wants to stay in place.
With the sides wanting the same goal, Zito has worked on lengthy, team-friendly contract extensions with key player after key player.
“It feels so good,” Verhaeghe said of so many of the Panthers’ core being locked in to extensions. “They’re like brothers to me, and honestly, it felt so good last year being able to win with this core. We’ve been at it for a while, and we just keep on building, getting stronger. The friendships I’ve made here are lifelong.”
It started with captain Aleksander Barkov, who signed an eight-year, $80 million deal ahead of the 2021-22 season.
It continued with Matthew Tkachuk, who signed an eight-year, $76 million deal upon being acquired by the Panthers in a blockbuster trade with the Calgary Flames ahead of the 2022-23 season.
And then came four deals over the past six months.
▪ Defenseman Gustav Forsling in March : Eight years, $46 million.
▪ Forward Sam Reinhart just before the calendar flipped to July 1 : Eight years, $69 million.
▪ Center Anton Lundell in July : Six years, $30 million.
▪ And, finally, Verhaeghe’s eight-year, $56 million deal on Tuesday.
That’s a half-dozen members of of Florida’s core signed through at least the 2029-30 season for a combined $45.875 million per year.
Then factor in the following: Forwards Evan Rodrigues and Eetu Luostarinen are signed through the 2026-27 season for $3 million per year apiece, while defenseman Dmitry Kulikov is signed through 2027-28 for $1.15 million per year.
That’s now nine skaters — seven of Florida’s top eight forwards and two of its top four defensemen — signed at least two more years beyond this season.
“You’ve got some elite players that have had great success in their careers, and they want to stay,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said. “What you love is, I don’t think that their primary decision is about the money. I don’t think that’s the driver. Everybody gets paid way too much in hockey — coaches included, let me qualify that — but we’ve got some elite guys that could probably take an awful lot more on the open market. It’s the culture of the room. It’s not the coaches; it’s those guys in the room. They all kind of do it for each other because they don’t want to leave. They don’t want to leave what they have, and they know that they can be great players here because they have been and they’re all respected in the room. Every time that [an extension] happens, [like] Sam Reinhart and Gustav Forsling signing last year, it just builds that bond between them all.”
The Panthers regularly talk about team chemistry and the value their off-the-ice bonds help fuel their success on it. The dressing room, rather than being two dozen individuals, is one cohesive unit.
The relationships have been fostered. The desire for that connection to stay is evident. The success has followed.
And the intent to keep the group that went through it all together has been well-documented.
“I see the competitiveness from from all the guys in the room,” Reinhart said. “That’s infectious. You start winning and you start wanting more. You start building. I don’t know if we’re ever gonna have a regular season like we had my first year here, and look what happened. There’s so much we’ve learned each year. We’ve been in different spots going into the playoffs each year; they’ve all been drastically different. But I think the most important thing is we’ve learned how to how to win at that time of year. Right now, it’s put yourself in that position to give you that opportunity.”
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