Monday Offseason Caterwaul: Florida Panthers Open Forum

The Florida Panthers stood pat over the weekend, not adding to a roster that looks short on goals as we await concrete news on the start of the next NHL season.

The Cats have $11,563,712 in cap space with restricted free agents MacKenzie Weegar and Aleksi Saarela, who has eight goals in eight Liiga games, awaiting new contracts.

Florida’s division rivals in Buffalo were busy on Sunday, coming to terms with forward Sam Reinhart and goaltender Linus Ullmark on new contracts, avoiding scheduled arbitration hearings with both players.

Reinhart signed a one-year deal worth $5.2 million. The 24-year-old scored 22 goals and 50 points last season with both of those marks being the second-highest on the Sabres. Reinhart has broken the 20-goal barrier in four of his five NHL seasons.

Ullmark re-upped on a one-year contract worth $2.6 million. The 27-year-old went 17-14-3 with a 2.69 GAA, .915 save percentage and one shutout. Ullmark’s 17 wins in 2019-20 was a career-high. He will again partner with veteran Carter Hutton during the upcoming season.

Those were the only NHL signings made on Sunday.

In other Atlantic Division news, the Detroit Red Wings and forward Tyler Bertuzzi had their salary arbitration hearing on Sunday. The Red Wings are proposing a $3.15 million salary, while Bertuzzi is asking for $4.25 million. Bertuzzi is getting a big raise regardless, as he made $1.4 million last season. Bertuzzi’s case was the first this year to go before the arbiter.