Florida Panthers Re-Up Montembeault, Weegar & McCoshen

Over the last few days, the Florida Panthers re-signed three important pieces leaving just one player under RFA status on their roster.

On Friday, July 19, the Florida Panthers inked goaltender Sam Montembeault to a one-year, two-way contract worth $708K annually. The deal will see the 22-year-old become an RFA at the end of the season.

This past season (2018-19), Montembeault featured in eleven matches with the Panthers, posting a record of 4-3-2 to go along with his GAA and SV% of 3.04 and .894, respectively.

With the Springfield Thunderbirds (Florida’s AHL affiliate), the youngster took part in 39 games, owning a tally of 13-16-18-1, along with a GAA and SV% of 3.24 and .899.

Seen as a future piece in goal, GM Dale Tallon fully expects Sam Montembeault to head into the upcoming season as the team’s new backup.

With Bobrovsky as the starter, Montembeault will be mentored from the 2x Vezina winner as the Panthers look to get back into the postseason for the first time in four years.

On Monday, July 22, the Panthers reached an agreement with defenseman MacKenzie Weegar before his arbitration hearing, signing the 25-year-old to a one-year, one-way contract worth $1.6M annually. The deal will see him become an RFA at the end of the season.

Through the 2018-19 campaign, Weegar played in 64 games, recording a slash line of 4G, 11A, for 15 points. All of those figures have been established as career highs for Weegar in his young NHL career.

Predominately playing on the bottom pair, Weegar received some playing time after a good stretch of play on the second pair, playing alongside offensive defenseman Keith Yandle.

With Weegar’s play continuing to improve after every season, the Panthers look to him as a lock on their blue line. Whether he plays in the top four or not is another question; however, the Cats view him as a dependable defenseman who can play full-time in this league.

Finally, Ian McCoshen also put pen to paper, signing a one-year, two-way contract worth $700K annually. Like Weegar and Montembeault, McCoshen will become an RFA at the end of the season.

In 19 games last year, McCoshen put up a goal and an assist for a total of two points. Unlike his 2017-18 campaign where the 23-year-old participated in 38 NHL games, McCoshen spent the majority of the season in the minors with the Springfield Thunderbirds.

With the T-Birds, McCoshen played in 38 games, tallying nine assists on the season. The goal behind keeping him in the minors was to give him some extra time to develop and come back stronger in the near year.

With the addition of Anton Stralman and the likelihood of another piece arriving through a trade or signing, Ian McCoshen will likely spend another year in the AHL.

Forward Denis Malgin remains the Florida Panthers’ final RFA to be signed. Expect Malgin and the Cats to come to some sort of agreement in the coming days.