*Photo from City News Vancouver*
The breakout candidate just got paid. RW Sam Reinhart and the Florida Panthers have agreed to an 8 year, $69 million contract extension, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. The Panthers have confirmed the deal.
The deal was signed just prior to Reinhart hitting the open market as a free agent, keeping him in Florida through the end of the 2031-2032 season. Reinhart's deal pays him $8.625 million annually and is entirely in base salary, with no signing bonus. He does not have any trade protection in the contract.
Florida GM Bill Zito said of Reinhart that "Since coming to South Florida, Sam has demonstrated his ability to be a powerful scoring threat while maintaining strong defensive play. 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."
Reinhart is coming off a breakout season with the Panthers, continuing his rise as a top scorer. He ended the season with 57 goals and 37 assists for 94 points, averaging 20:18 of ice time over all 82 games of the regular season. He added 10 goals and 6 assists in 24 playoff games.
The 27 power play goals and 34 power play points Reinhart had last year led the league, while his 57 goals were second best behind Auston Matthews' 69 goal season. He showed his two way prowess as well, finishing in the top 5 for Selke Trophy voting, given to the best defensive forward.
Zito said of the extension that "It’s awesome. As both Sam and I said all during the year, we wanted to keep him, he wanted to stay. We worked through the process. His agent was a gentleman. Everyone was all with the intention of trying to take care of Sam and still have a chance to win, and that was paramount to him in his decision-making. And respect and happiness on that end. We’re just thrilled, thrilled that he’s a part of it."
Reinhart has played for the Panthers and Buffalo Sabres over 10 seasons, being the number two overall pick in the 2014 draft. He has accumulated 255 goals and 283 assists for 538 points, averaging 18:31 of ice time per game in 696 regular season games. He has an additional 21 goals and 12 assists in 55 playoff games, all with the Panthers.
Since Reinhart joined the Panthers in 2021-2022, he has picked up 121 goals in the 242 games he's played, the most on the team in that time. His 243 points in that time are second to Aleksander Barkov. Reinhart now becomes the 3rd highest paid player on the team, behind Barkov and Matthew Tkachuk.
With the Panthers having won the Stanley Cup for the first time in their 30th season as a franchise, Reinhart is back as they now turn their attention towards year 31 and defending their title. Opening night is October 8 against the Boston Bruins at home.
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