Florida Panthers sign Chris Tierney to one year, two-way contract

The Florida Panthers have signed center Chris Tierney to a one-year two-way contract, with a $750,000 cap hit.

Tierney was an unrestricted free agent after finishing his two year contract with a $3.5 million cap hit, a deal he originally signed with the Ottawa Senators. It was the most he’d made on a contract, and he sees a massive drop in salary with his new deal. He’ll make $750,000 in the NHL, and $400,000 if he plays in the AHL.

Part of the reason for that drop in salary was Tierney’s 2021-22 season. In 70 games, he had just six goals, 12 assists, and 18 points, all either tied or in sole possession of the lowest mark of his career, including his rookie season in 2014-15 (six goals, 15 assists, and 21 points in 43 games) or the pandemic-shortened season in 2020-21 (six goals, 13 assists, and 19 points in 55 games).

However, a lot of that was due to some poor luck on Tierney’s end. The Senators shot just 6.19% at even strength when Tierney was on the ice, fourth worst among Sens players with at least 500 5v5 minutes, and second worst total of his career, so he should see a bit of a bounce back in that regard. He backs that up with decent play-driving skills, with a 47.3% shot attempt share and 47.9% expected goals share. Not amazing numbers, but his regularized-adjusted plus/minus indicates that that’s more on the team than him, so he should be a solid fit on a much better Panthers team.

It’s been a quiet offseason for the Panthers, although because they sit pretty close to the salary cap ceiling, they were mostly limited to depth signings. Tierney joins a couple other former Senators in Colin White and Rudolfs Balcers to join the team this offseason, as well as Nick Cousins and Marc Staal.