Penguins' Reilly Smith Being Linked To Former Team

The Pittsburgh Penguins are in tough to make the playoffs this season with teams ahead of them and an underperforming roster for the most part. There is a lot of talk about the non-core players being available for trade, and that includes Reilly Smith who was acquired in the offseason from the Vegas Golden Knights and has one year left on his deal.

While the Penguins may very well trade him before the deadline, Elliotte Friedman asks about a potential Smith and Florida Panthers reunion. The 32-year-old played two years for the Panthers between 2015-17 before spending the majority of his career on the Golden Knights.

At the age of 24 and 25, Smith scored 40 goals and 87 points in 162 games for the Panthers. Since then he has been even more productive as he's developed even though this season he only has 10 goals and 23 points in 47 games. This may partly be due to the fact that Smith is currently lining up on the third line and the depth he has to play with in Pittsburgh isn't great.

He is under contract through next season at $5 million AAV and the Panthers are looking for that extra bit of depth for a long playoff run again. This season they can prepare better for one as they made no moves at the trade deadline in 2023. There have been some players on the Panthers who have struggled to produce offensively this season. Not only could Smith come in and produce better than a number of them, he may also be able to boost some of the players who are struggling. He is a strong two-way player and would really help out the team. A roster player would have to go back to make the money work.