Reinhart belongs at center, even at 6 for 19 on draws
With Barkov out at least 10 games, Reinhart's new line drove play in Anaheim. Let someone else take the big faceoffs.
Sam Reinhart at center is the right call, and the faceoff dot is the price the cats should happily pay for it. Through three games he has won 6 of 19 draws, by our count. That's 31.6 percent, and nobody in Sunrise should care as long as the line keeps tilting the ice.
With the captain on long-term injured reserve and out at least 10 games, somebody had to take Barkov's middle. Paul Maurice picked the guy who reads the game like a center already, and on Sunday in Anaheim the first look was better than the 3-2 overtime loss suggests. The full recap has the rest of that night.
What the new line did
Reinhart centered Brady Tkachuk and Brad Marchand. At 5-on-5 that trio out-attempted the Ducks 12-2 and outshot them 4-0. Reinhart played 22:19, put three shots on net and didn't get on the sheet.
That's exactly what you want from a brand-new combination on night one: the puck travelled north, the wingers had possession, and Anaheim spent its shifts defending.
"It's really a different look," Reinhart said. "You see the game in different areas. You pick up the puck with a little bit more speed at times and you get it on your stick a little bit more."
That last part is the whole case. From the wing, Reinhart waits for the puck on the half-wall. From the middle he picks it up low with speed and makes the first pass himself. He's one of the most intelligent players on this roster without the puck, and center gives him the most territory to use that.
The catch
He has never been a faceoff specialist. He took 147 draws all of last season and won 38.1 percent of them, by our count. Anton Lundell, meanwhile, has won 27 of 43 this season, and Sam Bennett is at 18 of 36.
So don't make Reinhart win the draws that matter. Let Lundell or Bennett take the defensive-zone faceoffs and the late-game ones, then have Reinhart's line jump on after the puck is out. Every bench manages a converted winger that way; it costs an occasional line change, and it protects the combination that's driving possession.
Maurice sounded patient about the adjustment period. "We got almost three moving parts," he said, pointing to a new Tkachuk, Reinhart in a new spot and Marchand's first game back.
Lineup watch
The bigger concern isn't the faceoff circle. Reinhart has no points in three games despite 22.3 minutes and about seven minutes a night on the power play, and the Panthers' power play is at 5.9 percent, by our count. Three games is a tiny sample, but the cats can't wait for the captain's return to repair the man advantage.
I've watched this team survive worse stretches without its best player, from the empty-building years to the nights when one line carried everything. This one has enough depth to tread water for 10 games. It needs its best scorer scoring, though, and Reinhart is still the guy who does that.
Pabs' read: Keep him in the middle tonight against the Kings, give Lundell the big draws, and judge the line by where the puck goes after the faceoff, not who wins it.
