Florida has officially retained the top defender on the UFA market to a 4 year contract. The signing will go official tomorrow yet is already set in place as of Monday afternoon. The deal will see Drew Doughty remain another four years in Florida on a $3,740,000 per year contract. Florida with the two pay-outs of two million a piece to Toronto and Nashville will have spent $29,200,002 in total.

We were briefly able to touch base with GM Niehenke who had the following to say,

“DD is a corner-stone to our organization. It was imperative we brought him back and had been budgeting for it since acquiring him. Doughty is coming off a rough year yet is a top 3-5 defender in the world. The Panthers as an organization are blessed to see Doughty come back and long-term with the franchise.”

Doughty said the decision was easy to sign with the Panthers

“When it really came down to it I’ve never wanted to play anywhere else. This team is set-up for the short and long-term too. I’m hoping I can bring at least one if not multiple cups to the franchise over the next years.”

After signing Doughty the Panthers will be still sitting on a bank of about ~60 million. There is good chance they’ll continue to be players in UFA and bring in at least a few depth pieces and potentially a big fish or two. The retention of Doughty also now rounds out Florida top four d-core. Tentative yet rumor is we will see a 1st pairing of Josi with Ristolainen and a second pairing re-uniting Doughty and J. Johnson.