NHL Rumors: Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad May Have to Take Less if They Want to Stay

Two Florida Panthers pending UFAs may have to take less if they want to stay

TSN: Pierre LeBrun on with Jay Onrait talking about the Florida Panthers, and pending UFAs Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad. If they want to stay in Florida, they’re going to have to take less.

** NHLRumors.com transcription

Onrait: “Hey, speaking of, speaking of great days, the Panthers had a great day Tuesday. You know, Pierre okay, they, they beat the Bruins to open their season. They raised the banner. That’s exciting. And then at the end of the game, they announced they’ve signed Carter Verhaeghe to an eight-year extension at $7 million on the AAV. And he deserves it. Just had a terrific career. It’s been awesome to see,

But there’s a couple of pending UFAs that Florida still has to worry about, Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad. Any, any update there.

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LeBrun: “Yeah, so I had a chance to speak with Bill Zito, who signed Carter Verhaeghe to that extension on Tuesday. And you know, the second half of the offseason for Florida. And they barely had an offseason as you know. They, they barely had a week to re-sign Sam Reinhardt.

But the second half of the offseason really has been to establish talks with Verhaeghe, with Aaron Ekblad, and with Sam Bennett. They got one done. It’s not a guarantee to get all three done. They do want to get all three done. You know, Bill Zito, you know, he has said this a couple times over the last month, but there is a path in his mind where he can get all three done.

But that’s all he’s going to say. And the reason is he can’t say the rest. I’ll say it. He can get all three done if they’re willing to take less.

Onrait: “Right?

LeBrun: “Carter Verhaeghe, as much as, yeah, $56 million he just made, you know, he just signed the best contract of his career. He still left money on the table. I mean, if Carter Verhaeghe is on the market next July 1st, he’s getting at least $8 million a year.

Onrait: “Yep.

LeBrun: “I mean, there’s no argument there, but Sam Bennett and Aaron Ekblad are going to have to make similar decisions. And it’s okay if they decide to go to market, by the way.

You know, Brandon Montour, I think was brilliant to get that contract in Seattle. He wasn’t going to get it in Florida.

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But if Bennett and Eklad want to stay on the Stanley Cup champions, they’re going to have to take less than market value. That’s been communicated, I believe in those stocks, and right now, I don’t think those negotiations point to anything imminent. That might be a situation where it plays out here for some of the season, if not all of it. We’ll see where it goes