Panthers Recall Cole Reinhardt

With no extra healthy players on their roster heading into tonight’s game against Seattle, the Panthers have elected to give themselves a bit more depth.  The team announced that they’ve recalled winger Cole Reinhardt from AHL Charlotte.

The 26-year-old played in 59 games last season between Vegas and Florida, who claimed him off waivers a little before the trade deadline to give themselves another healthy body down the stretch.  Between the two teams, he notched nine goals and six assists along with 129 hits in 10:39 per night of playing time.  But more than half of his offense came in his limited time with the Panthers as he potted six goals with two helpers in just 15 games with them to finish on a high note.

However, that strong showing wasn’t enough to secure a roster spot to start the season.  Florida had to go with only 21 players at the start of the year to remain cap-compliant and even his below-minimum AAV ($812.5K) wasn’t enough to save his spot.  Instead, he cleared waivers in training camp and was assigned to the Checkers where he has two assists in five appearances so far.

Blueliner Radko Gudas remains day-to-day with an undisclosed injury although the hope is that he’ll be good to go on Wednesday.  With the team only carrying seven defenders and the minimum of 12 forwards, that left them with no spare players for tonight.  Reinhardt’s addition changes that and with the team operating in LTIR at the moment, they could very well decide to keep Reinhardt around as injury insurance beyond just tonight’s game.