Florida Panthers winger Sam Reinhart finds his name in fourth place on The Athletic's Dom Luszczyszyn's top 10 NHL contracts in 2025.
The 29-year-old was once again stellar for the Panthers, scoring 39 goals and 81 points in 79 games, while also finishing second in Selke Trophy voting. In his four seasons in Florida, Reinhart has scored over 30 goals in each season and over 80 points in three. He set a career-high 57 goals and 94 points in the 2023-24 season, prior to signing his eight-year, $8.625 million contract.
Reinhart's do-it-all play style fits in perfectly on the Panthers roster. On the power play, he plays the net front and the bumper to perfection, leading the Panthers in power-play goals in four consecutive seasons. He's also valuable due to his penalty killing prowess, forming a dominant duo with Aleksander Barkov.
Reinhart's value increases due to his faceoff abilities. Reinhart and Evan Rodrigues are the only right-handed shooting forwards who can take faceoffs on the Panthers roster, and in high-leverage situations where draws are on Reinhart's strong side, he wins over 40 percent of them.
"Of all of Florida’s deals that make non-Panthers fans scream “come on” in unison and blame state taxes, this one remains the most infuriating. For Panthers fans, it’s yet another substantial win.
Fresh off a year where Reinhart scored 57 goals and finished fourth in Selke voting, the Panthers seemingly got to pretend that season never happened during contract negotiations. Reinhart’s $8.6 million cap hit makes a lot more sense based on what he was after his 2023-24 season, and not based on the seismic leap he took in 2024-25.
Was regression likely? Yes. But not to the degree that Reinhart ended up making $3 million less than his contemporaries such as William Nylander and Elias Pettersson. If that was the market for a 90-point forward, Florida went way under it. Those savings probably afforded the Panthers the ability to trade for Brad Marchand — and the rest is history.
What adds further salt to the wound is that Reinhart is not only cheaper than Nylander and Pettersson but also probably better. That’s because of his defensive game, which has finally received the respect it deserves over the last two years. While Reinhart’s production did predictably regress last season, his defensive game took another step — enough to finish second in Selke voting behind teammate Aleksander Barkov.
Over the last two seasons, Reinhart has cemented himself as one of the league’s best players. For the next seven years, he’ll be an absolute steal," said Luszczyszyn.
Finishing ahead of Reinhart were Jack Hughes (New Jersey Devils), Brandon Hagel (Tampa Bay Lightning) and Seth Jarvis (Carolina Hurricanes). Also included on the rankings were Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado Avalanche), Leon Draisaitl (Edmonton Oilers), Dylan Guenther (Utah Mammoth), Lucas Raymond (Detroit Red Wings), Matt Boldy (Minnesota Wild) and Tim Stutzle (Ottawa Senators).
The Panthers pride themselves on the culture they've built, characterized by a selfless attitude and a pride in being hard to play against. You won't find many players who embrace the organization's philosophies more than Reinhart.