Panthers Pulse: Can Sam Reinhart Build on Dominant Career Year?
After setting career highs in goals (57) and points (94) and earning a huge pay day, can Sam Reinhart repeat the magic and help the Florida Panthers win a second-straight Stanley Cup?
Photo by Colby Guy
Leading up to the beginning of training camp, Pucks and Palms will be previewing each of the key pieces of the defending Stanley Cup Champion Florida Panthers in a series called ‘Panthers Pulse’ heading into the 2024-25 season. Sam Reinhart is next.
2023-24 Stats: 57 goals, 94 points, 82 GP (Playoffs: 10 goals, 16 points, 24 GP)
Sam Reinhart had just about the best season a pending unrestricted free agent could possibly ask for in 2023-24.
He lit up the scoresheet in the regular season, seeing his career-high in goals skyrocket from 33 to 57 while helping the Florida Panthers to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. He added 10 playoff goals, including the game-winner in Game 7 of the Cup Final, for good measure.
All of that earned him a brand new eight-year contract worth $8 million per season.
Can he repeat the performance he put in his contract year?
That remains to be seen.
Prior to that breakout 2023-24 campaign, Reinhart was usually good for anywhere between 25 to 33 goals a season and 70 to 82 points in a year. Combined with his defensive ability which bordered on elite this past season, you have yourself a star player.
Whether or not that 57-goal production sticks is the question.
For one, Reinhart’s league-leading mark of 27 goals is bound to drop with the departures of Brandon Montour and Oliver Ekman-Larsson leaving a gaping hole in the power play quarterback department.
Reinhart also had a league-leading 24.5 shooting percentage last year — well above his previous career-high of 19.2 percent from the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season and his best full-season mark of 17.7 percent from 2021-22.
He also shot the puck 50 more times than any other season of his career, save for the 2022-23. He scored his 57 goals on 233 shots this year after scoring 31 on 227 shots while shooting on a near career-low 13.7 percent clip.
Where Reinhart’s numbers wind up at the end of the year is probably somewhere in between those two extremes.
Regardless, his play prior to his breakout 2023-24 campaign is just as much worth that $8 million price tag. Especially if he builds on the defensive play which garnered the second-most first-place Selke Trophy votes. Only linemate Aleksander Barkov had more.
Reinhart wears a lot of hats for the Panthers. He serves as an elite two-way winger at 5-on-5, plays a pivotal role on the bumper and the net front on the power play, and contributed to a resurgent Florida penalty kill last season.
His versatility on both ends of the ice will make him an impact player regardless of if he reaches his heights from last season or not.
And, of course, you cannot forget about that Stanley Cup-winning goal.
Up Next in Panthers Pulse: Niko Mikkola
Previously: Matthew Tkachuk, Gustav Forsling, Sam Bennett, Evan Rodrigues, Eetu Luostarinen, Uvis Balinskis, Anton Lundell, Sergei Bobrovsky, Spencer Knight, Aleksander Barkov, Adam Boqvist, A.J. Greer