They won’t have help from center Aleksander Barkov, who is out for 7-9 months because of knee surgery to repair a torn ACL and MCL, or forward Matthew Tkachuk, who will miss at least the first three months because of surgery to repair a torn adductor muscle.

Reinhart, who typically plays on a line with Barkov, has instead been skating with Bennett in training camp as the two try to establish chemistry that the Panthers hope can help carry them through the season to overcome the loss of Barkov and, in the meantime, Tkachuk.

“Both of them, remember how high they were picked in the draft?” Panthers general manager Bill Zito said. “Their abilities were well known. Their upside anyway, and when you scouted them and you looked and you saw that they both had character, they played hard. They were smart. Benny was up and down throughout the lineup. Sam Reinhart was more of a consistent top-six presence. But all of those attributes in tandem with their upside, then the character checks out, that’s how we go about finding those players.”

* * *

Florida was the right destination and the Panthers the right team for Bennett and Reinhart because they arrived at the right time in their careers.

“Sam Reinhart, especially, has maximized himself physically,” Panthers coach Paul Maurice said.

Reinhart traces his physical maturation to 2020, when the NHL had to pause in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic. When the League returned for the playoffs in August, the Sabres were not part of it.

“Guys were going into the bubble and I essentially had 10 months off and I didn’t take any time off,” Reinhart said. “I was just training. I was barely on the ice, it was just training.

“I could have went to the bubble for a couple weeks and it would have probably been tougher for my development.”

Maurice said Reinhart, at 6-foot-1 and 196 pounds, doesn’t play through the body the way Bennett does, but the size and strength that he’s worked to add from his early 20s to his late 20s combined with his hockey sense has enabled him to become an elite scorer.

He leads the Panthers with 160 goals in 321 games since 2021-22, including 57 in 2023-24. Reinhart scored 134 goals in 454 games with the Sabres from 2014-21.

“He may not have the greatest foot speed, but he can make that decision very early, make the read very early,” Maurice said. “Sam Reinhart is fast enough to be an elite player. He’s an elite player, and does it through his brain.”