The Florida Panthers have been quickly re-signing their restricted costless agents, having already re-signed defenseman Erik Gudbranson and Dylan Olsen to two year deals, as well as reportedly getting closer to signing Dmitry Kulikov. On Wednesday, the Florida Panthers announced that they have come to terms with center Brandon Pirri, inking the young forward to a two year deal.
After being acquired at the 2014 trade deadline from Chicago in exchange for two draft picks, Pirri played the remainder of the season (21 games) with Florida, scoring seven goals and seven assists, for a total of 14 points. Mainly centering the third line, Pirri finished off most of his chances whenever the puck was on his stick. He seemed mentally engaged in just about every game that he participated in and was great at making himself open on the ice in order to receive passes.
GM Dale Tallon stated this following the trade for Brandon Pirri:
“Brandon is a young and talented player who we are extremely pleased to have acquired,” said Tallon. “He has experienced tremendous success on the American Hockey League level, being named MVP of the All-Star game and winning the league’s scoring title. Pirri further adds to our depth at center along with Aleksander Barkov, Nick Bjugstad and Drew Shore. We look forward to his contributions to our team.” [Source: FloridaPanthers.com]
A second round pick (59th overall) in the 2009 entry draft, Pirri was drafted by then-Blackhawks GM Dale Tallon, who is now the general manager of the Panthers. Unable to crack the Blackhawks lineup, Pirri played three seasons with Chicago’s AHL affiliate, the Rockford Icehogs, scoring a total of 158 points in 212 games. In his last full season as a member of the Icehogs, Pirri lead the league in points with a total of 75, including 53 assists. Due to the depth of the Blackhawks lineup, Pirri was traded to the Florida Panthers in exchange for two draft picks. Since entering the Panthers lineup, he has quickly shown that he can provide a skill that the Florida Panthers have not had consistently had for years: offense.
Simply said, the sky's the limit for Brandon Pirri, who is expected to start the season somewhere in Florida’s top nine in order to get the most out of a player that has a lot of expectations to fulfill. He will most likely be moved to the wing, due to the Panther’s depth at center. For the first time in Pirri’s career, he will have an opportunity to show the NHL that he belongs.