Report: Alex Petrovic close to re-signing with Florida Panthers
TSN’s Bob McKenzie has reported that the Florida Panthers and defenseman Alex Petrovic are close to agreeing to a new contract.
The Florida Panthers and defenseman Alex Petrovic are reportedly closing in on finalizing a one-year, one way contract worth $1.8 million. The 25-year-old defenseman has played his entire career for the Panthers since being drafted in the second round, 36th overall, of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.
During his time in South Florida Petrovic has played in 161 games with the Panthers. He has three goals and 32 assists to his name, along with 236 penalty minutes.
He has yet to play a full season in the NHL, playing a career high 66 games in the 2015-16 season.
FLA and defenceman Alex Petrovic are finalizing a one-year contract with an approximate AAV (give or take a bit) of $1.8M.
— Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 30, 2017
When not plying his trade in the NHL he has played a total of 144 games with the AHL affiliate of the Panthers, the San Antonio Rampage. He last played in an AHL game with the Rampage back in the 2014-15 season. During his time in the AHL, he had a total of nine goals and 41 assists to go with his 240 penalty minutes.
While he is never going to contribute a great deal in the offensive zone, he has proven himself to be a useful NHL level defenseman. In 49 games last season with the Panther,s he had a Relative Corsi-For percentage of 0.76, which was good for 12th on the Panthers roster and third among defensemen. The only other defensemen he trailed in this analytic were Mark Pysyk (1.55) and Aaron Ekblad (1.98).
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Before being drafted, Petrovic played in the WHL for the Red Deer Rebels. He played 270 games over the course of five seasons with the Rebels, scoring 29 goals, adding 117 assists and 440 penalty minutes to his resume.
Alex Petrovic will turn 26 during this reported contract.