6 Offseason Free-agent Landing Spots for Sam Reinhart

6 Offseason Free-Agent Landing Spots for Sam Reinhart0 of 6

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The Florida Panthers were already set to have an active offseason before relinquishing their 3-0 series lead in the Stanley Cup Final to the Edmonton Oilers. While they’ll try to avoid historic infamy now, they’ll have to think about what they will do with a few of their potential unrestricted free agents and the biggest of them all is forward Sam Reinhart.

At 28 years old, Reinhart is trying to cap off a career year with a Stanley Cup. He had 57 goals this season, second only to Toronto’s Auston Matthews, and he led the Panthers with a career-high 94 points. It’s the classic monster contract year and as a steady point producer, he will get paid.

The Panthers are tight to the cap, but a lot of other teams around the NHL who could use a veteran goal scorer who excels on the power play and just piles up points when he’s on the ice are not. Florida probably wants to keep him, but if he makes it to July 1, things could get really interesting.

Where could Reinhart land come July 1? We’ve picked out a few teams that make sense in ways that sometimes go beyond him being an outstanding offensive threat. Money helps, but so do situations and locations. Let’s dig in.

(All salary numbers within are courtesy of Cap Friendly)

Florida Panthers1 of 6

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The most obvious place for Sam Reinhart to play next season and beyond is right where he is now with the Florida Panthers. But their financial situation is going to be worth watching all offseason.

With 14 players accounted for already, Florida has just over $20 million in salary-cap space to work with and Reinhart isn’t their only major concern when it comes to retaining guys who’ve helped bring them to the Stanley Cup Final in back-to-back seasons.

Defenseman Brandon Montour will likely get a big contract from Florida or otherwise and fellow blue-liners Dmitry Kulikov and Oliver Ekman-Larsson will be free agents as well. Mix in forwards Vladimir Tarasenko, Ryan Lomberg, Nick Cousins, Kevin Stenlund and Steven Lorentz and you’ve got a sizable chunk of what’s made the Panthers so good.

But Reinhart is at the top of the list here, make no mistake about that. They want to keep him, and it would be difficult to believe Reinhart dislikes being in South Florida given the success he and the team have had since he was acquired from the Buffalo Sabres in 2021.

With the very quick turnaround that awaits once the Stanley Cup Final ends on Monday, having a week to hammer out a vital contract is either plenty of time or not enough at all.

Utah Hockey Club2 of 6

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Sam Reinhart started his career with the Buffalo Sabres, a young, up-and-coming team with a mix of veterans trying to climb out of a rebuild and into the playoffs. As the team struggled and Reinhart found his way acclimating to the NHL, he got better but the team did not.

That kind of experience is likely very instructive on how to read him possibly going into free agency, but unlike the Sabres who pushed the cart down the road when it came to signing him to a long-term contract, the Utah Hockey Club would be immediately ready to add him to their roster to help their young, up-and-coming team in a brand-new market try to reach the playoffs for the first time in a long time.

If Reinhart gets to free agency, it will be intriguing to see if money speaks louder than the opportunity to win it all sooner than later. Utah has the players and prospects to get there eventually, but after being on some great winning teams in Florida after suffering in Buffalo, the chance he might walk back into a situation with a team that’s more down than up wouldn’t seem so good.

But Utah ownership wants to make a splash or two to show the fans in Salt Lake they are very serious about winning right away. That makes for a fascinating clash of ideas.

Chicago Blackhawks3 of 6

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If the Chicago Blackhawks are going to grow up sooner than not, they’re going to need some very good veterans to team up with Connor Bedard to make that happen. They’ve got plenty of cap space to lure anyone there and the promise of playing alongside the next big star in the NHL to make sure points are easier to score. If they wanted to bring Sam Reinhart in to be one of those key veterans, those are two outstanding points to make to him.

What’s working against Chicago is they’re still not going to be very good next season and potentially the year after that and Reinhart knows all too well that growing pains for young teams can take a while to sort through. Sometimes they don’t get figured out at all.

Reinhart teaming up with Bedard would be fantastic as his style of play would mesh well with the young phenom and he would help speed up Chicago’s plans to get back to the playoffs, no doubt. But at 28, would Reinhart be cool with taking more lumps for a year or two?

Seattle Kraken4 of 6

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Last season, the Seattle Kraken took the league by storm when they put up 100 points and made it to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs. They were supposed to be back in the postseason again this year, but things didn’t go according to plan. They scored 72 fewer goals this season and a good way to get those goals back would be to sign Sam Reinhart, but there are some potential pros and cons here.

The cost to sign Reinhart won’t be cheap and Seattle has to get restricted free agents Matty Beniers and Eeli Tolvanen signed to new contracts. Seattle is working with about $23 million in cap space with 15 players accounted for. That kind of cap space will run out fast.

Reinhart is from Vancouver and Seattle being right nearby means he’d practically be at home and that’s always a great selling point. But the Kraken’s new coach next season is Dan Bylsma who coached Reinhart in his first two full seasons in the NHL with Buffalo from 2015 to 2017.

Things didn’t go well there and while that’s practically a lifetime ago in hockey terms, how that relationship ended would go a long way to determining whether or not the Kraken would have a chance to sign him.

Nashville Predators5 of 6

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If there’s one team that could be sneaky busy and make a big move in the offseason, it’s the Nashville Predators.

Even though they’ve got dead cap space to contend with, they could make a big move to sign Sam Reinhart if they had the opportunity.

Even though the Predators have Matt Duchene and Kyle Turris buyout money to contend with and retained salary for Ryan Johansen and Mattias Ekholm on the books, they’re still slated to have around $26 million in cap space with 15 players accounted for.

The Predators surprised a lot of people with how well they did despite the massive turnover last summer but by adding Ryan O’Reilly and Gustav Nyquist while getting a healthy Filip Forsberg back, they were able to return to the playoffs. But they’re going to need more offensive depth if they’re going to win in the West and that’s where Reinhart comes in.

Yes, the Predators have to decide how they’re going to extend Juuse Saros (or not) and whether or not they’re going to re-sign defenseman Alexandre Carrier, but there’s room enough under the cap ceiling to make Reinhart an offer that would be hard to ignore.

Vancouver Canucks6 of 6

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Admittedly, this one is the kind of reach that would make Stretch Armstrong want to tap out, but let’s make a case for Sam Reinhart to go home to Vancouver and join the Canucks.

Vancouver does not have a lot of cap space to work with, with roughly $16 million which accounts for 17 players. They just inked defenseman Filip Hronek to an eight-year, $58 million extension. They want to re-sign defenseman Nikita Zadorov but he’s not eager to give them a hometown discount. They’d also like to bring back center Elias Lindholm, but the price on him might be too high considering how things went when he arrived from Calgary.

Vancouver needs to make sure their defense is shored up since Tyler Myers and Ian Cole are also unrestricted free agents to-be and they don’t necessarily have NHL-ready prospect depth to fill holes. So that’s money that has to be spent in some way.

But if Lindholm and the Canucks can’t find common ground to get a long-term deal done and Reinhart hits the market, adding him to play alongside Elias Pettersson, Brock Boeser, J.T. Miller and Quinn Hughes would allow Vancouver to be even more dangerous offensively. It’s not the area they need to improve most to push for a Stanley Cup, but as the Edmonton Oilers are showing everyone, sometimes a better offense can go a long, long way.