The Panthers have agreed to terms on a one year deal with defenseman Alex Petrovic that is believed to be worth around $1.8MM, reports TSN’s Bob McKenzie (Twitter link). Florida tendered him a $1.2MM qualifying offer to retain his rights earlier this week.
Petrovic battled injury troubles this past season, missing 33 games due to a lower body issue. As a result, he saw action in just 49 games, scoring once while adding 13 assists and 79 penalty minutes. He also logged a career best 18:09 of ice time per game, ranking fifth among Florida blueliners.
The 25 year old has spent his entire career with the Panthers, who made him a second round pick (36th overall) back in 2010. He has played in 161 games with Florida over parts of five seasons, picking up 35 points (3-32-35). He will once again be a restricted free agent next offseason.
When the signing is made official, the Panthers will have a little more than $21MM committed to five blueliners with Mark Pysyk still to re-sign as well as someone to fill the seventh defender role. For comparison, the team spent a little over $16MM (before bonuses) at that spot in 2016-17. The biggest reason for the jump is Aaron Ekblad moving off his $925K entry-level contract to a new $7.5MM cap hit for the next eight seasons.