The Florida Panthers have given their new forward Sam Reinhart a three-year contract, with multiple reports saying it carries an annual average value of $6.5 million.
Reinhart, 25, was a restricted free agent. Florida got him from the Sabres last month for a first-round draft pick and goalie prospect Devon Levi.
Reinhart’s contract carries the highest cap hit of any forward on the Panthers. That includes point-per-game producers Aleksander Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau. The 25-year-old Barkov has another season on his deal at $5.9 million. And Huberdeau, 28, has two years left at the same cap hit.
Those two will be due big raises, but Reinhart was due for one as well. He played on a one-year, $5.2 million deal last season with the dreadful Sabres. On a team filled with injuries and dysfunction, he scored 25 goals and added 15 assists in 54 games. He has scored more than 20 goals in the last four seasons and five of six.
Reinhart was the second overall pick in the 2014 draft behind current Panthers defenseman Aaron Ekblad.