"The Panthers added two defensemen to their depleted blue line Thursday by signing veteran Jordan Leopold to a one-year deal worth $1.75 million and Clay Wilson, who has played a total of 14 NHL games over the past two seasons with Columbus and Atlanta, to a two-year deal.

Florida acquired the negotiating rights to Leopold on Saturday in the Jay Bouwmeester trade with Calgary, but couldn't get Leopold to sign before he became a free agent Wednesday. On Thursday, after noticing Leopold hadn't signed with another team, acting general manager Randy Sexton sent Leopold's agent an e-mail and got negotiations cranked up again.

''Sometimes these things take longer than you would hope. There was genuine interest in Jordan's part, genuine interest on our part,'' Sexton said. 'I stayed in touch with [Leopold's] agent and sent him an e-mail [Thursday] and said, `You haven't signed yet, what's up?' [The agent] called back, had a short conversation saying he had to talk to Jordan and his wife. Then he called back and said, `Here's the deal.'

``I'm ecstatic to have Jordan in Florida. Jordan turned down more money and longer terms from other teams. That shows how much he wanted to play here.''

Leopold, who played in 83 games with Colorado and Calgary last season, said there was interest from other teams but things had ''been quiet'' Thursday. Sexton appeared to call at the right time as Leopold was ready to commit.

''You look at an opportunity to play, and I don't know if other teams were the right fit for my family,'' Leopold said from Minnesota. ``I'm happy, I'm excited and ready to prove myself and look forward to the opportunity. . . . Randy called and I had to make a decision. I had prior conversations with him; at the end, it was a pretty easy decision. ''

Earlier in the day, Florida lost free agent defenseman Karlis Skrastins to Dallas. Skrastins, who spent parts of the past two seasons with the Panthers, was offered a one-year deal by Sexton. Skrastins signed a two-year contract with Dallas.

''The last number I had from his agent was $2 million for one year,'' Sexton said. ``We always wanted him back, but we wanted a one year, he got two. Two million for one year was a bit much. That's it. We didn't make a two-year offer. Only a one. We made him an offer on a one year [Thursday]; he took the security of the two years in Dallas.''

Sexton added that Florida isn't done adding to its roster.

''We are never done looking to improve,'' he said. ``We're going to be relentless in our pursuit of finding good players. We're creeping up [on payroll] to where we were last year. Rest assured, we're not done. That doesn't mean anything is eminent. But we're not sitting back. We're not done.''"