Panthers ink key defenseman to eight-year extension

The Panthers have signed pending UFA defenseman Gustav Forsling to an eight-year extension, GM Bill Zito announced Thursday (via Steve Goldstein of Bally Sports Florida). Winger Jonah Gadjovich has also signed a two-year extension, Zito said (via Colby Guy of the Associated Press). Forsling’s contract carries a $5.75M AAV ($46M total value), per Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic. Gadjovich’s extension is a one-way deal with the league minimum $775K salary in both seasons, Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports.

Per PuckPedia, Forsling’s deal has a no-move clause beginning next season through 2029-30 and a 16-team no-trade clause from 2030-31 to 2031-32. His contract is also paid out primarily in signing bonuses, earning only $1M in base salary each season.

It’s a monumental extension for Forsling and the Panthers, who each gain important clarity into their long-term futures. Forsling, now under contract through 2032, was one of four pending UFA blue-liners on the Panthers’ roster. Top-four fixture Brandon Montour and last summer’s one-year pickups Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Niko Mikkola remain unsigned past this season.

Forsling has had quite the rise to fame in Sunrise. The 27-year-old was claimed off waivers from the Hurricanes at the beginning of the 2021 season after spending all of 2019-20 in the minors and quickly grew into a top-four role on a strong Panthers squad that received an unfortunate First Round matchup against the eventual Stanley Cup champion Lightning. Last season, Forsling scored a career-high 13 goals, 41 points, and a 23:26 ATOI while playing in all 82 games.

He elevated his game further in the postseason, recording eight points and a +7 rating while logging a remarkable 26:01 per game in Florida’s run to the Stanley Cup Final. He also carried the torch as the Panthers’ number-one blue-liner to begin 2023-24 with both Montour and Aaron Ekblad out with shoulder injuries, and he’s responded with one of his best two-way campaigns yet with 31 points, a league-leading +43 rating, and a 56.1 xGF%, per Hockey Reference.

A fifth-round pick of the Canucks in 2014, Forsling’s signing rights were traded to the Blackhawks the following year in exchange for minor-league defenseman Adam Clendening. He eventually signed an entry-level contract with Chicago in 2016. He immediately joined the organization, splitting all three seasons between the NHL and AHL as he failed to make much of an impact in a depth role. He was then dealt to Carolina in 2019 before being claimed off waivers by Florida.

The differences in his impact between Chicago and Florida are jaw-dropping. In 122 games with the Blackhawks between 2016 and 2019, Forsling posted 27 points, a -8 rating, and a 44.8 xGF% at even strength while averaging 17:04 per game. In his three-and-a-half years in Florida, he’s recorded 126 points, a +120 rating, and a 55.3 xGF% in 258 games, averaging 21:51 per game.

Florida now has a top-pairing caliber player locked up well below market value, at least for the first few seasons of his deal. Forsling was among the top UFA defensemen available this summer.

Gadjovich is in his first season in South Florida after inking a one-year, $810K deal in free agency shortly after the 2023-24 season began. He’s spent most of the season in the majors after an AHL stint in October and November, posting four points and 90 PIMs in 33 games. A strictly fourth-line enforcer with poor possession impacts and little offensive upside at the NHL level, he’ll complement Florida’s bottom-of-the-line skaters in a tough-guy role until reaching UFA status again in 2026.