Why one Panther might be the NHL’s most underrated forward. And an Aaron Ekblad update
Sam Reinhart was not always the net-front force he is now for the Florida Panthers. When Reinhart came into the league, NHL scouting reports lauded the forward for his intelligence and passing abilities, and those are still there, especially in the minds of his 5-on-5 linemates, who have been the beneficiaries of 27 of his second-on-the-team 42 assists.
Those scouting reports, however, seldom mentioned what Reinhart could do in front of the net, mostly because it wasn’t really part of his game when the Buffalo Sabres took him with the second pick of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He was 6-foot-1 and 183 pounds, and was content to set up teammates with his vision and occasionally score with his reliable shot.
Only, it wasn’t so easy once he got to the NHL.
“You kind of have to learn to score at this level,” Reinhart said. “The easiest way for me to score was getting to the net.”
In his first full season with the Sabres, Reinhart finished ninth in Calder Memorial Trophy voting, scoring on four tipped goals around the net to land in the top 30 in the league. In Year 4, he started to play with center Jack Eichel close to full-time and went from being a focal point of his line to a complementary piece, and started to embrace his net-front finishing ability even more. He finished top 10 in the league in tipped goals in each of his final two seasons with the Sabres before they traded him to the Panthers in the offseason and he’s doing it again, tied for fourth in the league with six tipped goals and tied for third with 26 tipped shots, while also setting new career marks in goals and points.
When it gave up a first-round pick to pry him away from Buffalo, Florida hoped he’d thrive with better players around him and maybe lock down the revolving door it had at right wing next to star Aleksander Barkov on its top line last season.
Instead, the first-line experiment only lasted a few games, and the Panthers (49-15-6) have mostly asked Reinhart to play next to rookie center Anton Lundell and second-year winger Mason Marchment on their third line.
All he has done is average more than a point per game and transformed the third line into one of the NHL’s best, while also finding ways to make Florida’s stars better by filling a major net-front need on the power play.
“He’s put up numbers that probably should get more attention than he does,” interim coach Andrew Brunette said.
What makes him so valuable to the Panthers is the variety of ways he produces.
In 5-on-5 action, he’s the right wing on one of the NHL’s most productive lines: Among all NHL line combinations to log at least 140 minutes of time on ice, the Marchment-Lundell-Reinhart trio ranks second in goal differential at plus-14.
“He reads the game so well,” Lundell said. “If you’re open, he will always find you.”
On the power play, he has been transformative in front of the net, leading Florida with 12 power-play goals, even while playing next to star forwards Jonathan Huberdeau, Claude Giroux and Barkov. His net-front play sparked the Panthers’ stunning four-goal comeback Tuesday as he scored a pair of power-play goals around the net in their 7-6, overtime win against the Toronto Maple Leafs. He has the soft hands expected of a former top-five pick — it’s a surprisingly common occurrence for him to swat pucks out of the air and into the net like a baseball player — and the attitude of a physical net-front grinder.
With Reinhart now in the fold, Florida ranks eighth in the NHL with a 23.7 power-play percentage — up from 20.5, the 15th best mark in the league, a year ago. Right wing Patric Hornqvist played Reinhart’s spot last year and is a similar player around the net, but Reinhart brings more to entries and other aspects of the power play.
“You have the extra man out there for a reason,” said Reinhart, who will face the Sabres (26-34-11) for the fourth time Friday at 7 p.m. at FLA Live Arena in Sunrise. “There’s going to be space and if you all exploit the same space, and read the same plays and you jump into the holes — we’ve got players out there on the perimeter that can find me in there, so it’s a fun group to be part of.”
There are 42 players in the NHL averaging more than a point per game this season and Reinhart is averaging the lowest time on ice at just 17:42 — a product mostly of his third line placement.
On a team loaded with stars, Reinhart sometimes gets buried in the lineup and overlooked in broader discussions about the Panthers. His production, however, is approaching All-Star levels.
“He’s a really good luxury for a coaching staff to have and he’s been unselfish,” Brunette said. “A third-line, point-a-game guy — that’s not bad.”
Aaron Ekblad resumes light skating
Aaron Ekblad resumed light skating recently, Brunette said, and is on track in his recovery from a right knee injury.
Still, it means the star defenseman likely won’t be back until the first or second round of the 2022 Stanley Cup playoffs, Brunette said.
“He’s on schedule and there isn’t many hiccups, so he looks like he’s trending in the right direction,” Brunette said. “It’ll be a week-to-week kind of deal with him.”
Ekblad injured the right knee last month and Florida placed him on long-term injured reserve just ahead of the trade deadline.
