Free Agent Notes: Reinhart, Ekman-Larsson, Joseph, Lafferty

Contract discussions between the Panthers and Sam Reinhart appear to be going down to the wire, reports Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic (Twitter link).  The 28-year-old is coming off a career year, one that saw him score 57 goals and 37 assists while playing in all 82 games, setting new personal bests in goals and points.  He didn’t produce at quite the same rate in the playoffs but still managed 16 points in 24 games to help lead Florida to their first Stanley Cup title.  Reinhart is in line for a significant raise on the $6.5MM AAV he had over the last three seasons while getting a max-term agreement.  However, the length of that max-term contract is about to change.  Unless a contract is agreed to by 11 PM CT, Florida will be capped at offering only seven years.  If a deal is reached before that time, they can make it an eight-year agreement.

More free agent news:

• While the Panthers are hoping to keep Reinhart in the fold, it looks like they won’t be re-signing Oliver Ekman-Larsson, at least not yet. Rick Dhaliwal of TSN and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the veteran blueliner will be testing the open market.  After being bought out by Vancouver last summer, the 32-year-old signed a one-year, $2.25MM deal with Florida to try to rebuild his value.  The move worked as Ekman-Larsson had a solid season, notching 32 points in 80 games while logging over 18 minutes a night.  He also recorded six points in 24 playoff contests.
• Although the Penguins non-tendered defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph earlier today, TVA Sports’ Renaud Lavoie reports (Twitter link) that the two sides are still discussing a new deal. The 24-year-old had more of a limited role in 2023-24, getting into 52 games where he had 11 points while logging a little over 15 minutes a night.  Joseph was arbitration-eligible and Pittsburgh didn’t want to give him that option, resulting in him not getting his qualifying offer.  It’s a tactic we’re seeing more of lately with teams then sometimes circling back to work out a deal after.  We’ll see if this is one of those cases.
• While the Blackhawks asked for the negotiating rights to Sam Lafferty to be added in the Ilya Mikheyev trade earlier this week, Scott Powers and Mark Lazerus of The Athletic report (subscription link) that the veteran will test the market. Lafferty spent parts of two years with Chicago and had discussions on a new deal with them following his rights being acquired but instead will see what’s out there.  The 29-year-old had 13 goals and 11 assists in 79 games with Vancouver after being acquired late in training camp from Toronto.