The Game 7 hero is here to stay. Sam Reinhart will be signing an eight-year contract extension to remain with the Florida Panthers.

The contract reportedly comes with an annual price tag of $8.62 million, and totaling $69 million.

Reinhart beat the 12 a.m. Monday deadline by minutes, per multiple insiders, after a day when the Panthers celebrated their Stanley Cup championship with a parade and ceremony on Fort Lauderdale Beach. Reinhart missed the event to attend his best friend's wedding.

More: Florida Panthers celebrate Stanley Cup with parade, ceremony in rainy Fort Lauderdale

“Since coming to South Florida, Sam has demonstrated his ability to be a powerful scoring threat while maintaining strong defensive play,” Panthers President and GM Bill Zito said. “His versatility and value as a player are only outshined by his premier personality and work ethic, and we are pleased to have him continue on with our group.”

Meanwhile, the Panthers also agreed to terms with defenseman Dmitry Kulikov on a four-year contract extension.

“Dmitry’s stout defensive play and strong physicality were crucial to winning our first Stanley Cup,” Zito said. “We are excited that he will be a Florida Panther for years to come.”

Kulikov, 33, scored 20 points (1-19-20) and a plus-15 rating in 76 games. His 19 assists were his most since his 2014-15 campaign with Florida. He had 56 hits and 2 assists in the playoffs.

Reinhart scored a career-high 57 goals in the regular season and added 10 in the playoffs — including the all-important game-winning goal in Florida’s 2-1 Game 7 victory over the Edmonton Oilers.

Reinhart was intent on staying. After all, he endured a lot of losing throughout his career before a trade sent him to South Florida in 2021. He missed the postseason in each of his first seven seasons — all with the Buffalo Sabres, who still own the longest postseason drought in professional sports (13 years).

Since that trade, Reinhart has hit a new level. He went from a consistent 20-25-goal scorer to at least 30 in his first two years before the explosion to 57 in Year 3. His 17 playoff goals are second on the team behind only Carter Verhaeghe since his arrival in 2021-22.

Reinhart also took his defensive game to the next level. He steadily improved on his own end throughout his three-year run in Florida before finishing fourth in Selke Trophy voting — the award given to the league’s best defensive forward. He received the second-most first-place votes, behind teammate and winner Aleksander Barkov.

And, of course, Reinhart scored 57 goals in the same season. And he did it in a way few have done. Of the 209 50-goal seasons in NHL history, he was one of just 33 players to score at least five of those goals shorthanded. He was not cheating for goals on the penalty kill either — he was playing quality minutes on a legitimately good Panthers penalty kill.  His 27 power-play goals were the most in club history and led all NHL skaters in 2023-24.

“It’s just such an elite class,” coach Paul Maurice said on the day he hit 50 goals. “And there are just a few people whose names score 50 that you don’t know. You’ve just heard of them because they’re the superstars.

”But, you know, five of those are shorthanded goals, right? And that tells you that he’s playing both sides of the puck. Some guys scored 50 who couldn’t even find their own end. Sam is a battler, a team-first player, and we are just so fortunate to have him.”

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Stanley Cup champion Sam Reinhart signs $69 million extension with Panthers