Is Carter Verhaeghe worth his new deal with the Panthers?

The Florida Panthers made sure they stayed in the headlines following their wild 6-4 win over the Boston Bruins on the night they raised their Stanley Cup banner. After the game, the Panthers announced they had signed Carter Verhaeghe to an eight-year contract extension.

The deal kicks in next season and will carry a $7 million AAV through the 2032-32 season.

It is a big payday for a player who has played key minutes for the Panthers since joining the team in 2020. Verhaeghe has been one of the most efficient scorers for Florida, scoring a career-high 42 goals and 73 points in 2022-23, before following that up with a 72-point campaign last season as the Panthers went on to win the Stanley Cup.

The question is, with Verhaeghe approaching 30, is the sizeable contract going to pay off?

On Wednesday’s edition of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Colby Cohen and Tyler Yaremchuk discussed whether or not Verhaeghe is worth his upcoming contract.

Colby Cohen: You look at his goal production, and you know you’re buying on a down-year, 25 goals…On a great year, 35 goals, maybe 40 goals. You look at a guy who performs in the playoffs, in your biggest moments. He got seven game-winners last year. You look throughout his stats, he’s always been a clutch player. You think about the number seven. [$7 million] is not as much as seven next year, and the year after. So, I look at that, at worst, 25 goals for $7 million.

Let’s talk percentage–five percent of your cap, four percent of your cap for 25-40 goals guaranteed, good or bad year, I like the deal. I think it’s a good one. I see a lot of people not liking this deal. They think this team will be regretting it, I’m not one of those guys.

You can watch the full segment here…