The Florida Panthers have agreed to an eight-year contract extension with forward Carter Verhaeghe

SUNRISE, Fla.– Florida Panthers President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Bill Zito announced today that the club has agreed terms with the striker Carter Verhaeghe with a contract extension of eight years from the 2025/26 season.

“Carter is one of our most trusted players. “South Florida has watched him develop into one of the NHL's top scorers while also being a tireless predictor,” Zito said. “His willpower and perseverance have enabled him to achieve repeated success as a critical artist on the biggest stages. He is an integral part of our team now and in the future and we are pleased that he will continue to be part of our core group.”

The 29-year-old Verhaeghe collected 72 points (34-38-72) in 76 games during the 2023-24 season, setting new career highs in assists (38), power play goals (8), game-winning goals (7) and more Points per game played (0.95). The 2023-24 season marked Verhaeghe's third season with at least 20 even-strength goals, tying Olli Jokinen for the most such goals in a single season in club history, and his 19 third-half goals were the most in Florida.

In the 2024 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Verhaeghe led all Panthers skaters in goals (11) while ranking third on the team with 21 points (11-10-21). He scored the series-opening goal in the 2024 Stanley Cup Final, which ended as his 10th game-winning playoff goal of his career and third of this postseason, exactly one year after his overtime winner against Vegas in Game 3 of the Stanley Cup -Finals 2023. Verhaeghe became the sixth player in NHL history – and the third in the last 95 years – to score a franchise's first two game-winning goals in the Stanley Cup Finals. He has scored at least three game-winning goals in each of Florida's last three postseason runs – only Mike Bossy (4, 1981-1984) and Wayne Gretzky (3, 1983-1985) have done so in as many postseason runs.

Verhaeghe is the Panthers all-time playoff leader in goals (26), even-strength goals (21), even-strength points (46), overtime goals (5) and game-winning goals (10). He scored two series-winning overtime goals with Florida, the first in Game 6 of the first round of the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs in Washington, giving the Panthers their first postseason series win in 26 years, and the second in Game 7 of the first round playoffs in Boston in 2023 to complete Florida's monumental comeback against the Presidents' Trophy-winning Bruins. He has appeared in seven career NHL games, recording one goal and one assist, and set the club record for points with five points (2-3-5) against Washington in Game 5 in 2022 a postseason game. He also owns the club record for points in a postseason series with 12 (6-6-12) in six games against the Capitals in this round.

The 6-foot, 183-pound native of Toronto, Ontario, has played in 330 career NHL games between Tampa Bay (2019-20) and Florida (2020-21 to 2023-24), scoring 249 points (127th). –122). 249). He has scored more than 30 goals and 70 points in each of his last two seasons and has led the Panthers in goals at even strength in each of the last three seasons, posting a cumulative plus-minus rating of plus-75 over the last four seasons achieved by Florida's second-best striker over this period Aleksander Barkov (plus-91).

Prior to his professional career, he spent four seasons (2011-12 to 2014-15) with the Niagara Ice Dogs of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL), recording 224 points (83-141-224) in 252 regular season games. He served as Niagara's captain during the 2014-15 season and led the club in points in his final two seasons.

On the international stage, Verhaeghe won a gold medal with Canada at the 2013 IIHF U18 World Championship, recording four assists in seven tournament games. Verhaeghe was originally selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the third round (82nd overall) of the 2013 NHL Draft.

Catch your Florida Panthers in action this season! Tickets for 2024-25 single games are on sale now and can be purchased at SeatGeek.com or at the Amerant Bank Arena Box Office (Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.). Fans can learn more about ticket options and get on the waitlist for future Florida Panthers Territory memberships by visiting FloridaPanthers.com/tickets or calling the PUCK hotline (954.835.PUCK).