It has become a running joke with the Florida Panthers. Ask coach Paul Maurice about Sam Reinhart, and he will say something less than glowing about his team鈥檚 top goal scorer.
These are actual examples:
鈥淗e鈥檚 hard to deal with.鈥�
鈥淗e鈥檚 got a terrible attitude.鈥�
鈥淗e鈥檚 mean to small animals, squirrels especially.鈥�
To be clear, Maurice means absolutely none of those things. Reinhart can become a free agent on July 1, and the jabs 鈥� all done in jest 鈥� are Maurice鈥檚 faux efforts to try and deter other clubs from signing the player who has put together the biggest goal-scoring season in Panthers history. Reinhart has 60, including three in the playoffs, topping Pavel Bure鈥檚 mark of 59.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a big, big number,鈥� Maurice said. 鈥淭here isn鈥檛 a cheat part in his game. And what鈥檚 impressive about the 60 is he didn鈥檛 hang out on the power play and if he was on the ice for empty-netters it was the right thing for him to be on the ice 鈥� that鈥檚 not how he gets his goals. What鈥檚 great about him is he scored 60 goals and that clearly is the headline, but it鈥檚 not necessarily the best part of his game.鈥�
Here is what Florida鈥檚 coach considers the best part, and there鈥檚 no metric for this on the stat sheet: Maurice simply raves about how smart Reinhart is, saying he is one of the very smartest he鈥檚 ever coached.
The way Reinhart took advantage of his openings this season sort of shows those smarts. He had 57 goals in the regular season while connecting on 24.5% of his shots that reached the net. Nobody in the NHL had done that 鈥� 57 or more goals, 24.5% or better shooting 鈥� since Mario Lemieux in 1988-89.
In fact, the 28-year-old Reinhart is one of only five players to ever put up those numbers. The others: Lemieux, Jari Kurri (who did it twice), Wayne Gretzky (who did it twice) and Mike Bossy. All four are in the Hall of Fame.
鈥淗e is awesome,鈥� Panthers goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky said. 鈥淗e can score from any position. He鈥檚 smart. He鈥檚 not only scoring goals but he鈥檚 a key player on the penalty kill as well and in the defensive zone. It鈥檚 so much fun to see him have that success.鈥�
The Panthers 鈥� Stanley Cup finalists last season 鈥� are back in the second round of the playoffs for a third consecutive season, all coming with Reinhart on their roster since his arrival after seven seasons with Buffalo. They鈥檙e awaiting either Boston or Toronto in Round 2.
鈥淏est time of year,鈥� said Reinhart, who is from West Vancouver.
Reinhart is in the final year of a three-year, $19.5 million contract. He showed right away that his mind wasn鈥檛 elsewhere: He had seven goals in the season鈥檚 first six games, 15 goals through 21 games and kept the pace up the whole way.
He played all 82 games (for the second straight year), led the league with 27 power-play tallies and had 11 game-winning goals. It鈥檚 not like his goal barrage came out of nowhere: Reinhart had scored at least 20 in seven of his first eight NHL seasons, plus had 33 and 31 goals, respectively, in his first two seasons with the Panthers.
鈥淚 think when you get off to a better start, it makes everything else easier,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 allowed me to not really focus on anything personal. It might have been a little bit harder had I got off to a poor start 鈥� but, fortunately, didn鈥檛 have to go down that road.鈥�
Scoring 60 goals in a season 鈥� counting playoffs 鈥� is something only 45 players in NHL history have done. There are 17 players who have done it multiple times and that list is headlined by names you鈥檇 expect: Gretzky and Bossy each had seven such seasons, while Guy Lafleur and Jaromir Jagr had five apiece.
Of the 45 that have hit the 60-goal mark in a season, 21 are already in the Hall of Fame and several others 鈥� Jagr, Alex Ovechkin, Steven Stamkos, Connor McDavid among them 鈥� seem pretty certain to be headed there once eligible. Clearly, the 60 Club is rare air, and Reinhart now owns some hockey history.
鈥淲hen he hit the 50-goal mark, I wondered how many other 50-goal scorers I鈥檝e coached,鈥� Maurice said.
The answer: None, in a regular season. Matthew Tkachuk had 51 for Florida last year, including playoffs.
There have been 244 players who have scored goals with Maurice as their coach, but none of them getting 50 in a regular season 鈥� until now. Maurice has been a head coach for 26 seasons, racking up more games behind the bench in that span than anyone else besides Scotty Bowman in NHL history, and he鈥檇 never had a player score 50 times before the playoffs until Reinhart went for 57 this season.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 how rare it is,鈥� Maurice said.
Reinhart knew people would make a fuss when he hit certain milestones 鈥� 40 goals, 50 goals, now 60 with the three playoff tallies 鈥� but has insisted all season that there is a bigger goal. The Panthers have never won a Stanley Cup.
鈥淵ou want to be back. You want to have that opportunity again,鈥� Reinhart said. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 been driving our team from the start of the year.鈥�
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