Panthers Re-Sign Matthias

The Florida Panthers have taken care of a key restricted free agent a couple of weeks before training camp, as Shawn Matthias has signed a 2-year deal on Friday morning. The deal is reported to be a two-way deal this season and a one-way deal in 2013, which gives him a bit of a boost towards making the team full time for next year.  No financial details were released on Friday morning.

Matthias has had trouble cracking the Panthers line-up since they acquired him from Detroit in 2007, topping out at 55 games played in the 2010 season.  In the 2011 season, Matthias played in 51 games, scoring 6 goals and 10 assists, tying a career-high in points.

Matthias has been used in more of a bottom-six role with the club and has been groomed to do be a good checking centre with the club, so his points will likely stay relatively low.  Matthias will also have a big battle on his hands trying to crack this revamped line-up in Florida, as all of these new faces have bumped him down on the totem pole, so to speak.  If he does crack the line-up, I do see some good things for him.