Expect Sam Reinhart to Stay in Florida, Brandon Montour is a question mark
TSN Hockey Insider Pierre LeBrun joined SportsCenter with Jay Onrait and was asked about the Florida Panthers signing Sam Reinhart and Brandon Montour to extensions and whether they could do both.
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NHL Rumors: Sam Reinhart Continues to Increase His Net Worth
Jay Onrait: “Then you have Bill Zito, the GM in Florida; he’s got a bunch of other things to worry about because, like we said, the timeline is tight, and he’s got two big free agents, unrestricted free agents in Sam Reinhart and Brandon Montour. Pierre, this is like a lot for Zito to deal with. Can he sign one or both, do you think?”
Pierre LeBrun: “Yes, I think I have a feeling that he will sign Reinhart and probably not Montour. I think it’s too big for both of them to be signed, and we’ll see though. He has pulled many rabbits out of the hat over the past few years and put together this juggernaut list.
But you are right. The strange thing about it is that you know if you talk on both sides and the Sam Reinhart conversation there has not been any reasonable and meaningful contract negotiations all season, they put that aside and said let’s focus on trying to win the cup. and then we’ll be, we’ll revisit this and you know, one of the things Sam Reinhart told me in early April when the Panthers came to Toronto is that he personally has such a good relationship with GM Bill Zito that he feels like he’s right. in a comfortable place when it is time to continue this.
NHL Rumors: Florida Panthers Want to Keep Sam Reinhart Long Term
So that was interesting. You don’t hear that from a player very often. It speaks to, I think, the symbiotic chemistry in that Panthers organization from top to bottom. And he clearly doesn’t want to leave, but he will leave money on the table if he stays with the Florida Panthers.
He’s not going to get what the market would be willing to pay for a 50-goal scorer and, you know, tax-free in Florida. You have to be responsible for that. But at the end of the day, Matthew Tkachuk made nine and a half and Aleksander Barkov made $10 million.
That’s your natural intercap in Florida, right? So I suspect that the number that comes to Reinhart, just before July 1, for the Panthers, probably starts with eight.”
