Florida Panthers re-sign Rasmus Asplund to one-year contract
It was quite the day for forward Rasmus Asplund.
On the same afternoon in which he celebrated winning the Stanley Cup, the Swedish forward signed a one-year extension with the Florida Panthers worth $775,000 in the NHL and $400,000 in the AHL.
The #TimetoHunt re-signed 26 y/o F Rasmus Asplund to 1 year deal
NHL 775K
Minors 400K
Guaranteed 475K
44P in 67 AHL GP
Rep'd by Claude Lemieux @4sportshockey https://t.co/Ad5xtVVg7K
The 2023-24 season was Asplund’s first with the Panthers organization. However, he did not see the ice once with the big club; instead, he spent the entire campaign with Florida’s American Hockey League affiliate, the Charlotte Checkers. In 67 games, the Filipstad native scored nine goals and 35 assists, with his 44 points sitting second on the team, only behind Mackie Samoskevich. He also scored a goal in the Checkers’ opening-round series against the Hartford Wolf Pack in the Calde Cup Playoffs.
It was the first time in five years that Asplund didn’t play at least one game in the NHL. The 26-year-old was selected in the second round, 33rd overall, by the Buffalo Sabres in the 2016 NHL Draft. He moved to North America for the 2018-19 season, joining the AHL’s Rochester Americans. He made his NHL debut the following season, and went on to play 164 games with the Sabres, but was traded to the Nashville Predators in March of the 2022-23 campaign.
In 183 NHL games, he has scored 18 goals and 31 assists, including a career-high 27 points during the 2021-22 season with Buffalo.
In 178 AHL appearances, Asplund has notched 22 goals and 84 assists, along with a goal in six postseason games.
The Färjestad BK product has represented his country on a few occasions. He was the captain for Team Sweden at the 2014 Hlinka Gretzky Cup, also playing for Tre Kronor at the 2015 IIHF Men’s Under-18 World Championship, 2016 and 2017 IIHF World Junior Championships, as well as making his senior national team debut at the 2022 IIHF Men’s World Championship.
With the signing, the Panthers have 35 standard player contracts on the books for the 2024-25 season. According to CapFriendly, Florida has less than $18 million in projected cap space.