The Florida Panthers sniper started his career in the OHL before rising to stardom as a playoff performer in the NHL.
The Florida Panthers opened the 2024 Stanley Cup Final with a 3-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers. In that victory came another goal for the Niagara IceDogs alumnus, Carter Verhaeghe.
The former OHL 30-goal scorer has made quite the name for himself in the NHL over the last two seasons. When you want to look for the definition of clutch or playoff-performer, you’ll find Verhaeghe’s name listed underneath that definition.
The rising playoff star has scored 25 playoff goals in his career. 13 of them are go-ahead goals, nine are game-winners, and five have been scored in overtime.
Last year in just his fourth NHL season, Verhaeghe shocked everyone when he scored 42 goals in the regular season, improving on his 24 from the year prior. He elevated his game even more in the playoffs for the Panthers, finishing with seven goals (fourth-most on the team) and 17 points, second-most for this team.
Here are a few more striking statistics that demonstrate his impact in last year's postseason. All seven goals were scored at even strength, tied for the most on his team. He also had four game-winning goals, again tied for the most on his team.
Two of his game-winners came in overtime. The first one was in Game 7 against the Boston Bruins in the first round, which completed Florida’s upset over the B’s. The second was to give the Panthers their only win in the Stanley Cup Final against Vegas.
Verhaeghe’s playoff brilliance has continued on this year. He leads his team with 10 goals, has three game-winners, and one overtime winner.
If you’re wondering if his playoff-performer status started back when he was playing in the OHL, you’ll find that he didn’t really have all that much playoff experience with Niagara.
The farthest he got was to the OHL Finals with the IceDogs in his rookie season, but as a first-year player, he was stuck on the fourth line barely getting any ice time.
In the next two seasons, Niagara would get bounced out of the playoffs in the first round where Verhaeghe compiled a total of 11 games, four goals, and eight points.
The team managed to get out of the first round in the 2015 playoffs, aided by their captain Verhaeghe. They lost in the second round in five games to the Oshawa Generals, but he made his mark in these playoffs, recording six goals and 14 points in Niagara’s 11 playoff games.
That season marked the end of the road for Carter as he was prepared to turn pro next season. His OHL career finished with a total of 303 games played, 94 goals, and 249 points.
The Florida Panthers struck gold untapping Verhaeghe’s potential. He was originally a third-round draft pick by the Toronto Maple Leafs before being dealt in a deal for New York Islanders forward Michael Grabner.
The Islanders didn’t want him either and traded him to the Tampa Lightning in exchange for goaltender, Kristers Gudlevskis. However, after a three-year stint in the Lightnings’ organization, they, like Toronto and New York, deemed him not important to their future, and let him walk to free agency.
Panthers GM Bill Zito saw something in Verhaeghe and recruited him right before the start of the 2020-21 season. This type of masterful work shows the impact Zito has had in building a roster that looks primed to win Florida’s first Stanley Cup ever. But like 18 other players in the Stanley Cup Final, Carter Verhaeghe’s journey started in one of the best development leagues in the world, the Ontario Hockey League.