Sam Reinhart Opens Up On How Close He Came to Considering Another Team

After a spectacular 57-goal season, everyone knew that Florida Panthers star forward Sam Reinhart could write his own ticket this offseason as an unrestricted free agent. But how much did he want to investigate the market and consider breaking the bank with another team?

After all, AFP Analytics had projected his AAV on a new deal this summer coming in at a whopping $11.28 million. But in the end, Reinhart's accepting of an 8-year, $8.625 million AAV deal with the Panthers certainly laid it bare where his priorities were.

Reinhart, spending his day with the Stanley Cup in his hometown of Vancouver this past week, spoke for the first time about how things went down in his decision to take the "team-friendly" deal with the Panthers.

Was signing a bigger deal with another team something he strongly considered?

It was never an option for my wife and I, we wanted to be there (in Florida) through and through. It all worked out. We’re thrilled with the commitment on both sides.

For the 28-year-old, coming off helping lead his team to that Cup triumph, he left as much as $20 million on the table, if the AFP projections would have been accurate. But when you're still pulling in $69 million and happy in the place you want to be, it's definitely worth it, at least for Reinhart.

“It’s the best place in the world to play hockey,” Reinhart added. “So we’re thrilled to be coming back for a long time.”

He'll be a Panther until 2032, at the age of 36.

Reinhart was the second overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, and after spending his first seven years with the Buffalo Sabres, he has risen to new heights in the past three seasons with the Panthers, with 64 goals over his first two years there, and then the explosion for 57 in 2023-24.