The Florida Panthers have been busy as the new league year began on Tuesday.
With their latest move, Florida has agreed to terms on a one-year deal with veteran defenseman Jeff Petry.
According to NHL Insider Frank Seravalli, the deal is worth $775,000 and can include some performance bonuses.
#FlaPanthers adding Jeff Petry: 1 year x $775k plus performance bonuses.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) July 1, 2025
Petry has spent the past two seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, racking up four goals and 28 points in 117 games in Hockeytown.
Throughout his career, Petry has been valuable both on the power play and the penalty kill.
While Florida may call on him to join their PK unit, Petry will probably be far down the depth chart when it comes to the power play, behind the likes of Aaron Ekblad, Seth Jones and Gus Forsling.
While the Panthers have been busy signing players to extensions, Petry is the first unrestricted free agent to ink a deal with Florida.
Over the past several days, the Panthers have extended Sam Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, Brad Marchand and Tomas Nosek while signing restricted free agent Daniil Tarasov to a new deal as well.
Florida is now $2.95 million over the salary cap, which they can exceed by 10% ($9.5 million) until Opening Night.
As it stands, they have 13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders under contract.
We’ll see what other moves the Cats have up their sleeve as we get deeper into the free agency period.
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Photo caption: Nov 18, 2024; San Jose, California, USA; Detroit Red Wings defenseman Jeff Petry (46) skates with the puck during the second period against the San Jose Sharks at SAP Center at San Jose. (Bob Kupbens-Imagn Images)