Wed 5 Jun 2024 - 11:15AM
FANS' FAVOURITE SAM HERR RETURNS TO PANTHERS
The Nottingham Panthers are absolutely thrilled to welcome back fans' favourite Sam Herr for the 2024-25 season.
The 31-year-old was the Elite League's leading points-scorer when he was last with the Panthers in the 2019-20 campaign which was cut short by the covid pandemic.
Herr, who was the Panthers captain, was named on the EIHL's First All-Star Team as he scored 30 goals and contributed 29 assists for 59 points in just 46 league matches.
The USA-born forward added 17 points (6+11) in 12 games in the Challenge Cup and nine points (5+4) in six matches in the Continental Cup as Panthers won the silver medal.
After leaving Nottingham, Herr had a season in Austria with Innsbruck where he scored 19 goals and 21 assists for 40 points.
He's spent the past three years in the DEL2 with Ravensburg Towerstars, scoring 149 points (76+73) at just under a point per game.
Herr scored 43 points (24+19) in 39 post-season matches and captained Ravensburg to a championship in 2022-23.
"I'm smiling, I'm head over heels excited, my family's excited and we're so happy to be coming back," said Herr.
"I felt the love from day one in Nottingham last time. The fanbase in Nottingham, I have not experienced anything like it anywhere else and that's the truth.
"The fanbase was a huge part of me coming back. My wife Taylor talks about how much fun she had games and how excited she is.
"You get to Nottingham and you play for that city. It's a special night to play hockey at the Motorpoint Arena so that was a huge, huge factor in coming back.
"To now return to Nottingham, it's a new challenge for me and there's more pep in my step than I had at the beginning of this summer.
"I talked to Danny (Stewart) and he's excited. Omar (Pacha) is excited and he's been fun to chat with.
"We're all excited and we just want to get this going if I am honest with you."
Prior to joining the Panthers, Herr played nearly 200 times in the American Hockey League over four seasons.
Head Coach, Danny Stewart, said: "We are absolutely thrilled to get Sam back on-board.
"It's a big signing for us. He brings leadership and was a clear-cut fan favourite in his time here.
"He has good size. He plays in those hard areas and gets a lot of points from that both five-on-five and on the powerplay.
"You can use him in all situations, is good off the puck and the best thing is he wants to be a Panther again.
"Pacha (Omar Pacha) did a lot of great work on this one - he was relentless.
"Sam had a great experience last time he was here and he wants to build on that next time around."
Player sponsorship packages are available for the 2024-25 season. Please contact sarah@panthers.co.uk for further information.
Signing news brought to you in association with 2fawcett Recruitment.
