Panthers Lock up 5

Even in the midst of a playoff run, which sees the Panthers up 3 games to 1 on the Ottawa Senators, GM Wilson was talking to agents and locking up his future. None bigger than star defenseman, Alex Pietrangelo who locked up for 4 years. The young defenseman has been a key piece this year for the Panthers, and was the first ever pick by the current Panther's regime, that saw him get picked 5th overall back in 2008. The deal is report ably worth just over 21 million, over 4 years. 

 "Locking up Alex was huge for us this season; he is our rock on the blue line and our future and present there. His progress has been amazing and we showed no hesitation locking him up long term. He's been a part of this organization almost as long as I have and he will remain a part of it as long as I'm running this organization."

 The other big signing was locking up Luke Schenn for 2 years. Schenn who was picked 6th overall, right behind Pietrangelo, by the Stars, was acquired by the Panthers last season. The shutdown D, averaged over 20 minutes a game this season. "Locking up both these guys was huge; they are both young and continually improving and are both big pieces to our future on D."

 With two big pieces locked up on D, the Panthers also re-signed a trio of forwards. Locking up Bryan Little, Trevor Lewis and Brad Richardson to multiyear deals. "We picked up Bryan this year and he was very impressive for us and we look forward to his continued improvement with us. The other two are  interesting, both guys we really like and have a good chance at making the team next year on the bottom line, but we feel both have the potential to be better than that and each will get that opportunity."

 The Panthers have 6 remaining RFA's but Dylan is confident he can get those signed. "We have maybe 2 or 3 other guys we might look to bring back but we will see what happens over the next few weeks. Right now we are putting our entire focus on the playoffs right now as we continue our push for the cup."