Cole Reinhardt wasted little time making his case for a Florida Panthers roster spot.
In the Panthers’ first preseason game Sunday night, Reinhardt scored twice in the second period and helped Florida open its exhibition schedule with a 6-3 win over the Carolina Hurricanes at Amerant Bank Arena.
The performance fit the momentum he carried out of last season. Florida claimed Reinhardt off waivers from the Vegas Golden Knights last March, and he made the most of his short stint with the club, finishing with six goals and eight points in 15 games. Five of those goals came over the final four games of the regular season.
“I’m happy for him,” Paul Maurice said postgame. “I think his game has grown.
He can shoot the puck, and he showed that last year. But he played a really, really smart game today.”
Reinhardt said being around the team already has made camp easier.
“It makes a big difference knowing everyone coming in,” Reinhardt said about his comfortability coming into camp. “ You’re not shaking 100 hands on the first day. It makes a big difference knowing the coaches, knowing the system a bit.”
That familiarity matters because the path to an NHL job in Florida is narrow. The top-9 forwards, first seven defensemen and two goalies are all but set, while Lars Eller and Garnet Hathaway are also expected to be part of a rebuilt fourth line.
That leaves one open wing spot on the fourth line, plus two more roster spots for scratches on the 23-man roster. Reinhardt is among the forwards competing for those few remaining openings.
He also arrives with some pedigree. The Ottawa Senators selected him in the sixth round of the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, and before joining Florida he had 62 regular season games and nine career points, including four goals, with Ottawa and Vegas.
Brady Tkachuk, one of Reinhardt’s former teammates in Ottawa, said the winger brings more than one way to help a team.
“I think he’s a great player,” said Brady Tkachuk, who was also Reinhardt’s teammate in Ottawa. “I think he shows the different skill set that he could play with.
“Obviously he scored an amazing goal. Great shot, and then he’s net front with a great tip, and he’s physical as well. I think he’s versatile in that way where he can play any style and be really effective.”
Florida will get one more look at an NHL-heavy lineup Tuesday night against the Hurricanes in Raleigh before finishing the last two preseason games with a more AHL-driven roster.
Under new NHL regulations, players with 100 or more games of NHL experience can appear in only two preseason games, which has squeezed the chances for players like Reinhardt to stand out. Maurice said that makes the opportunity even more compressed.
“You have a very small window to make an impression; It’s the toughest year in the history of the NHL to make an NHL team out of training camp,” Maurice said when talking about the shortened four-game preseason.
“There’s just not a lot of runway to do it.”
In Other News...
Brady Tkachuks Florida Arrival Looks Bigger Than A Normal Blockbuster
Brady Tkachuks move to South Florida already had the feel of a headline-grabber when it happened in June, with the Ottawa Senators sending him to the Panthers for draft picks after he requested a trade himself. For Florida, the fit goes beyond the usual blockbuster logic, because it brings another star into a lineup built to chase the top of the league and deepens a family connection that has hovered around the story from the start.
Ottawa owner Michael Andlauer said the push was shaped by Tkachuks desire to play with his brother Matthew in Florida, with Keith and Matthew both part of that pull. Even with the rumors that surrounded the situation, Andlauer said Senators fans continued to support Tkachuk, which gives the departure a more complicated edge than a simple split between player and club. [Read more 🡒]
Brady Tkachuk's Florida Arrival Still Has Ottawa Stirred Up
Ottawa is still sorting through what Brady Tkachuk meant to the franchise, and owner Michael Andlauer made clear this week that the captains exit was about more than hockey. Andlauer praised Tkachuk for the way he led the Senators and represented the organization in the community, even as the questions around his departure kept circling back to Florida and the pull it had on him.
Andlauer also pushed back on the idea that Tkachuks move might spark a larger wave of American players looking elsewhere, calling that talk overhyped. For Ottawa, the bigger issue is trying to steady the room after losing a centerpiece player, while the Panthers keep benefitting from the kind of addition that can shift the tone of a team long before the first puck drops. [Read more 🡒]
Panthers Face One Huge Test If They Want Another Cup Run
After missing the playoffs last season, the Panthers enter this year trying to turn a reset into a return to contention. Florida finished 40-38-4 and spent the offseason reshaping the roster, a sign the front office believes the group can get back into the bracket and make a real push once it gets there. The road starts with a roster that looks different and, in a conference this deep, there is little margin for easing into the schedule.
Aleksander Barkovs return gives the Panthers a needed stabilizing force, but the early weeks will still say plenty about how quickly this team can settle in. The Eastern Conference is unforgiving, and Floridas opening stretch is demanding enough that any chemistry issues or slow starts could be costly. If the Panthers are going to chase another Cup run, they will need the new look to click fast and the lineup to hold together under pressure. [Read more 🡒]