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Sam Reinhart is back in the fold.
The Buffalo Sabers announced today that they had signed a two-year contract of $ 7.3 million with a cap of $ 3.65 million.
Reinhart, 22, has just won a career year with 25 goals and 50 points in a season that made it difficult to produce in the first period. But Reinhart took off after scoring a goal on Jan. 1 in the Citi Field Winter Classic against the New York Rangers.
Reinhart has had 20 of his 25 goals in the last 44 games of the season and was ranked 12th in the NHL from January 1st to the end of the year. Reinhart eventually tied Jack Eichel to the top of the team in goals and finished third at points, just behind Eichel and the late Ryan O'Reilly.
The contract negotiations between Sabers 'chief executive, Jason Botterill, and Reinhart' s agent, Craig Oster, lasted all summer unresolved and extended into a training camp.
When Reinhart arrived in early September at HarborCenter to skate with his teammates, this was seen as a good sign of negotiations. Most players without agreement stay away from these informal skates unless they have good information on the discussions.
"That sort of thing is between my agents, Jason and me, and that's how we wanted to keep him," Reinhart said. "That's how it's going to continue … My goal here is to be ready for the season and I'm excited to be back with the guys."
Yet no agreement was reached and Reinhart was not with the team when she reported physical effects last week. He missed the first two pre-season games and when the team lined up for Tuesday's opening match against Pittsburgh, Kyle Okposo was Reinhart's presumably on the right wing with Eichel and newly acquired left wing Jeff Skinner.
The two sides never broke off the negotiations. TSN's Bob McKenzie announced Wednesday that an agreement was reached less than two hours before the club's official announcement of the signing.
Reinhart will earn a salary of $ 3.55 million this season and $ 3.75 million next season, which will lead to a success of $ 3.65 million. According to Capfriendly.com, the Sabers will enter the season with approximately $ 2.8 million in terms of capitalization.
The Sabers were eliminated on Wednesday and are back in training on Thursday to prepare for a home game against Toronto that will begin Friday night at the Scotiabank Arena.
Ranked second in the 2014 Philadelphia draft, Reinhart and Toronto's William Nylander have been the best RFA on the market. The only other unsigned RFAs are Nick Ritchie's forwards Anaheim and Miles Wood of New Jersey and defender Shea Theodore of Vegas.
Oddly, Reinhart and Nylander both have fathers and brothers who played in the NHL.
Reinhart's father, Paul, was a longtime supporter in the 1980s for Calgary and his brother, Griffin, played for Edmonton and the New York Islanders. Nylander's father, Michael, has played 920 games for six NHL teams and his brother, Alexander, is trying to stay with the Sabers after the club took first place in 2016.
Reinhart regularly insisted that he had not changed his style of play last season. The increase in numbers, however, is the result of more shots on goal and a better percentage as Reinhart came to the net a bit more in 5-on-5 and power play.
He scored five goals on 68 shots in the first 38 games of the season, compared to only 7.4%. That has changed to 20 goals on 120 shots in the last 44 games – pushing the percentage to 16.7.
Reinhart was at 13.9% in 2015-16 when he scored 23 goals. That number dropped to 9.6 in 2016-17 when he scored 17 goals.
Mike Harrington: Relaxed Reinhart focused on the season, no contract
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