The Florida Panthers have extended qualifying offers to three restricted free agents by yesterday’s 5 p.m. deadline. As expected, defensemen Alex Petrovic, Mark Pysyk and MacKenzie Weegar are set to remain in the organizational fold.
Petrovic and Pysyk are arbitration-eligible while Weegar is not.
Players not receiving an offer were forwards Mike Sgarbossa, Kyle Rau, Chase Balisy, and Graham Black; defenseman Reece Scarlett and goaltenders Colin Stevens and Adam Wilcox.
Those players will become unrestricted free agents on July 1. It’s possible the Cats will bring a couple of them back, but for less money.
In other news, development camp opens today at Panthers IceDen in Coral Springs. The Red Team will practice from 2:15 to 3:10 p.m. The White Team will practice from 3:50 to 4:45 p.m.
All of five of Florida’s picks from this weekend’s draft will be in attendance, as will last year’s number one pick Henrik Borgstrom. All practices and workouts are free and open to the public, so check it out if your schedule allows.