Bobby Bevilacqua

On Tuesday, the Florida Panthers made a big decision to extend Aleksander Barkov, the 20 year old, second overall draft pick from 2013. Barkov has been a key part of Florida’s success this season, centering Jaromir Jagr and Jonathan Huberdeau and scoring 31 points (13-18-31) in 39 games this season.

So in his third season, instead of signing him to a bridge deal, the Panthers went all in, inking him to a six year, $34.5 million extension, an average of $5.75 million per year. This isn’t the first time the team has signed a young forward to a big extension right off of their ELC. Florida did the same with Nick Bjugstad last year after he scored 24 goals, giving him a six year extension with a cap hit of $4.1 million.

The thought process here is to immediately lock up the most talented young forwards, and get them under contract before they get better and can command more money. If Bjugstad pans out and becomes a consistent 20 goal, 50+ point scoring center, $4.1 million will seem like a very reasonable price. Read the rest of this entry →