Hosts Dimitri Filipovic and Darryl Belfry break down the details on how Reinhart has taken his game to the next level this season
In this week’s Hockey PDOcast, hosts Dimitri Filipovic and Darryl Belfry do a deep dive breaking down Sam Reinhart’s monster season.
Reinhart was drafted 2nd overall by the Buffalo Sabres in 2014. While he was far from a bust in Buffalo, Reinhart’s career highs in goals as a Sabre were 25 and points, 65.
He has surpassed both of those numbers in every season as a Panther since they acquired him in July of 2021. Barring injury, he will become the 2nd Panther in history to score 50 goals in a season (Pavel Bure did twice). He currently sits at a career high 48 goals with 14 games left to play.
Filipovic and Belfry do a great job breaking down how and why Reinhart has taken his game to the next level and emerged as an elite goal scorer since becoming a Florida Panther, with a specific focus on his career season this year.
They make a point of saying they do not think this is a fluke. They dismiss the narrative of Reinhart padding his stats on the power play (leads the NHL with 27 PPGs). They rightfully, in my opinion attribute this as more of a player mastering his role, than being a “powerplay merchant”.
As well, they acknowledge how fun it has been to watch the special chemistry that has developed between Reinhart and Captain Aleksander Barkov over the last three seasons. and how that has played a factor in both of their success.
This is an interesting listen for not only any Panthers fans, but any hockey fans. It is rare to see a player like Sam Reinhart find a second wind like this in his career and take his game from a solid offensive player to an NHL All-Star and soon to be 50 goal scorer.
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