The Florida Panthers added three more players on the second day of the NHL free agent signing period, inking forwards Evan Rodrigues, Gerry Mayhew and William Lockwood to new deals.
Using the cap space opened by moving Anthony Duclair to the San Jose Sharks on Saturday, the Cats added Rodrigues, who signed a four-year, $12 million contract, to its top-nine group.
The 29-year-old skated in 69 regular season games with the Colorado Avalanche last season, recording 16 goals, 39 points, and a plus-7 rating. In seven postseason games against the upstart Seattle Kraken, he produced five points (1G/4A). His offensive career-highs came in the previous campaign, when he produced 19 goals and 24 assists for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The 5-foot-11, 184-pound native of Toronto, Ontario has appeared in a total of 385 NHL regular season games with the Buffalo Sabres (2015-16 to 2019-20), Pittsburgh (2019-20 to 2021-22) and Colorado (2022-23), collecting 168 points (69G/99A). Rodrigues also has 128 games of AHL experience, all with the Rochester Americans, producing 23 goals and 70 points.
Mayhew, who was a member of the organization last year, was brought back on a one-year, two-way deal. He appeared in 69 games with the Charlotte Checkers and amassed 44 points (24G/20A) His 24 goals tied him for first among Checkers skaters in goals (with Riley Nash) and he led the team in power-play goals with eight.
The 30-year-old has 321 games of AHL experience and has played in 57 NHL games. Following the 2019-20 season with the Iowa Wild, Mayhew was named the recipient of the Les Cunningham Award as the AHL’s Most Valuable Player and the Willie Marshall Award as the league’s top goal scorer. He was also named to the AHL Second All-Star Team that season.
Florida signed Lockwood to a two-year, two-way contract that will pay him $775K at the NHL level and $275K at the minor league level.
This past season, Lockwood, 25, skated in 43 AHL games 3 with the Abbotsford Canucks and the Hartford Wolf Pack producing 17 goals and 30 points He did make 13 appearance for the Vancouver Canucks, totaling one assist.
The 5-foot-11, 172-pound Lockwood, who played four season at the University of Michigan prior to turning pro, has skated in 113 career AHL games with the Utica Comets (2020-21), Abbotsford (2021-22 & 2022-23) and Hartford (2022-23) recording 66 points (30G/36A).