Gustav Forsling costs the Florida Panthers $5,750,000 a year, and that number is starting to look almost embarrassing for the rest of the league.
Nobody wanted him for free back in January 2021. Carolina put him on waivers, and Bill Zito scooped him up without giving up a single asset.
That claim is arguably the single best value pickup in modern Panthers history, and it hasn't stopped paying off since.
Forsling posted 28 points in 80 games this season, going minus-5 on a Panthers team that finished 40-38-4 and 25th overall.
The raw numbers don't tell the real story here. Forsling isn't built to rack up points. He's built to make the other team's stars disappear.
Weak-side reads, net-front detail, a stick that kills plays before they start. That's the actual value hiding behind a modest points total.
He signed an eight-year, $46,000,000 extension back in March 2024, a deal that runs all the way through the 2031-32 season.
Why that cap number looks better every single year
Compare that $5,750,000 hit to what top-pair defensemen are getting paid across the league right now, and the gap is almost laughable.
Forsling helped anchor both of Florida's Stanley Cup runs in 2024 and 2025, locking down elite opposing forwards in the process.
That's a championship-level defenseman signed at a price that barely moves the needle on Florida's cap sheet.
Head coach Paul Maurice has leaned on him for over 22 minutes a night in years past, trusting his mobility to handle heavy minutes without wearing down.
Forsling missed the final regular season game last year with a minor issue, but he's back skating informally and expected to be fully ready for training camp.
He also suited up for Sweden at the 2026 Winter Olympics, adding international hardware to a résumé that already includes back-to-back Cups.
Six more years remain on this deal. If Forsling keeps playing at this level, teams are going to keep wondering how Florida landed him for pennies on the dollar.
Is Gustav Forsling's contract the best value deal in the entire NHL?
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