Florida Panthers forward Sam Reinhart enjoyed a spectacular season in 2023-24, winning a Stanley Cup in the process and picking a great time for a breakout 57-goal season.

What contributed to Sam Reinhart's 57-goal season that took the NHL by surprise? Check out this excerpt from The Hockey News' Playoffs Special edition, lightly edited with updated information.

Sam Reinhart has historically been more tortoise than hare. 

And before anyone takes umbrage with the comparison, let it be said this is not a comment on his ability to get up and down the ice. Sure, he’s not going to be throwing his hat in the ring to compete for the fastest-skater crown anytime soon, and his 21.9 miles-per-hour top speed is listed in the inauspicious “Below 50th” percentile in the league’s newfangled player-tracking data, but that’s only because Reinhart prefers, ahem, economy of movement. Yeah. Let’s go with that.

In all seriousness, Reinhart is self-aware enough to know he’s not the quickest straight-line skater. He’s also conscious enough about his own output to know that hitting the ground running has never quite been his thing.

Nine seasons into his NHL career – or a decade, if you want to count his nine-game cameo as a 19-year-old – Reinhart has never scored in the opening game of the season. He’s found the scoresheet on occasion on opening night, registering three assists, but it’s taken him an average of six games off the top of each of his big-league seasons to open his goal account.

But battling through and emerging from the other side of a slow start can teach a player a thing or two. It’s why Reinhart often looks back to his 2017-18 season.

Then in the final season of his entry-level contract with the Buffalo Sabres, Reinhart was saddled with expectations. Fresh off a 17-goal, 47-point sophomore season, Reinhart was expected to continue to break out and take a step toward becoming one of the Sabres’ offensive leaders. The No. 2 pick overall three years earlier was also supposed to help usher in a new generation of on-ice success in upstate New York. The reality was that 20 games into the season, Reinhart had three goals and eight points for a five-win Sabres outfit.

“You’re trying to get a deal; you’re trying to give yourself the best opportunity to get the best deal you can, so, obviously, there’s that added pressure,” Reinhart said. “But that first half of the year, the numbers really were not supporting my case. I was able to stick with it and, obviously, turn it around. I had a very good second half. Just being on short-term deals my whole career there, you were able to play through some tough things, build some confidence in some tough times. And I think that shaped me a little bit.”

“There are times where it feels like he doesn’t even look at you, but he’s finding a seam and hitting you right on the tape.” - Evan Rodrigues on Sam Reinhart

Again, we go back to the tortoise. Whereas the Aesopian hare is best characterized by a rapid, brash and boastful start, its adversary is the representation of calm, cool and confident consistency. In a variety of ways, the lessons that Reinhart, 28, learned through his early-career trials in Buffalo – which ended with his trade to sunny South Florida in July 2021 – have molded him in that model.

Statistically, and particularly when it comes to filling the net, Reinhart has become a known quantity. He’s an eight-time 20-goal scorer. Prior to this past season, he’d averaged nearly three points for every four games. And better yet, his coaches have understood what they were going to get on a nightly basis – a responsible, versatile forward who’s more substance than style.

Reinhart plays the type of game, according to former Sabres and current Panthers teammate Evan Rodrigues, that often goes underappreciated. And having first been Reinhart’s linemate in Buffalo and again now in Florida, Rodrigues knows more than most about what Reinhart brings to the table. 

“There are times where it feels like he doesn’t even look at you, but he’s finding a seam and hitting you right on the tape,” Rodrigues said. “Those little things, you don’t recognize as much until you’re playing with him. He’s very strong on pucks in the corner, he doesn’t lose many wall battles, he hangs on to pucks, and he makes it look easy when he does it. He doesn’t do it in a flashy way with overly dramatic plays, but it seems like every play, he just makes the right play.”

And now, he’s making those right plays more than ever. Reinhart cinched up a personal best in goals and points and was top-two in the NHL in power-play (first), shorthanded (second) and game-winning goals (second). Most impressive about Reinhart’s output, though, aside from the fact he bucked his own trend by flying out of the starting blocks, is that the results continue to be a product of process rather than any desire to pad his stats.

To wit, in a contract year, and with the pressure on for him to produce as he sought a long-term pact, Reinhart remains the diametric opposite of what one might call a volume shooter.

Perhaps there are those who would argue with Reinhart’s approach, suggesting that nearly a decade into his career, he should start ripping the puck a bit more. Undoubtedly, there’ve been coaches along the way who’ve tried to get him to pull the trigger more often. But that’s never been his game. He’s never kneeled at the altar of the almighty Pucks On Net. 

Reinhart entered this season having only registered 200-plus shots on goal in a single season on one occasion, the 2022-23 campaign, in which he lit the lamp 31 times. To give that some context, Mark Scheifele and Brayden Point are the only players with more goals but fewer shots than Reinhart over the last nine seasons. It’s exclusive company.

This is an excerpt from Jared Clinton's story in The Hockey News' Stanley Cup playoffs 2024 special edition, in which Sam Reinhart was put in the deep-dive spotlight. He has since signed an eight-year contract to remain with the Panthers and, more importantly, captured the Stanley Cup.

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