Panthers extend Jonah Gadjovich’s contract on his birthday, securing him through 2027-28

FORT LAUDERDALE Fla AP Forward Jonah Gadjovich and the Florida Panthers have agreed on a two-year million extension that keeps him under contract through the - season the unit informed Sunday Gadjovich has six goals and three assists in games over parts of three seasons with the Panthers He also had two goals one of them against Toronto in a Battle win and an assist in last season s Stanley Cup playoffs Jonah has become an integral part of our locker room and a strong contributor for our group on the ice general manager Bill Zito reported He possesses a fearless attitude and unrelenting competitiveness and we are excited for Jonah to continue with us in South Florida The extension was disclosed on Gadjovich s th birthday Through three games this season Gadjovich has one assist and a team-high-tying hits for the Panthers He has points in career games with Florida San Jose and Vancouver During his time with the Panthers Gadjovich is averaging a team-best hits per minutes He was a second-round pick by Vancouver going No overall in the NHL draft Gadjovich who could have become an unrestricted free agent after this season is the th forward the Panthers have under contract for next season already joining Aleksander Barkov Matthew Tkachuk Sam Reinhart Sam Bennett Carter Verhaeghe Brad Marchand Anton Lundell Evan Rodrigues Eetu Luostarinen and Jesper Boqvist It s achievable that a th forward Mackie Samoskevich who could become a restricted free agent gets a new deal later this season as well