The Florida Panthers with the Best Chance to Lead Team in Scoring

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The Florida Panthers have, perhaps, the deepest stable of forwards in the NHL.

If the Panthers come back healthy — and stay that way — they should have one of the highest-scoring teams in the league.

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But, who will be the Panthers leading scorer?

In this ‘modern’ era of the dominant Panthers, three players have led the team in scoring since the 2021-22 season: Jonathan Huberdeau, Matthew Tkachuk, and Sam Reinhart.

Reinhart has been Florida’s leading scorer the past three seasons starting with his 57 goal campaign in 2023-24.

Last year, despite being shutdown in March due to a lingering foot issue, Reinhart’s 61 points off 29 goals led the Panthers.

The safe money would be to bet on Reinhart to do it again this season.

But there are plenty others who can challenge for the Panthers’ scoring crown.

Here are a couple of the best bets:

Sam Reinhart

Reinhart enters his sixth season with the Panthers as one of the top scorers in the NHL.

His career-high 57 goals came a few years back, but he has continued to be one of the most feared scorers around — and he will have plenty of opportunity to keep putting the puck in the back of the net with this bunch.

Reinhart is expected to join Sasha Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Brady Tkachuk, and Seth Jones on Florida’s top power play unit.

The Panthers have been very good at drawing penalties, and this crew can drive folks crazy.

Reinhart will get a lot of scoring chances, especially playing with Barkov and BT (at least to start) on the top forward line.

Matthew Tkachuk

Matthew Tkachuk does so much for the Panthers, sometimes you forget how much this guy can score.

In his first season with the Panthers, Tkachuk led the team with 109 points — leading the way with 69 assists. That’s quite a few helpers.

Tkachuk is more than willing to spread the wealth and, with his brother now joining the Panther Party, expect more of the same this season.

Matthew Tkachuk celebrates after scoring against the Buffalo Sabres last season. // Sam Navarro-Imagn ImagesCredit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Brady Tkachuk

The former captain of the Ottawa Senators last led his team in scoring during the 2023-24 season when BT scored 37 goals and had 74 points.

Tkachuk led Ottawa in scoring four times since the 2019-20 season and led the Senators with 29 goals last year despite missing time due to injury.

So, yeah, this cat can score some points.

Brad Marchand

Paul Maurice was often asked last season how it was that Marchand was scoring at over a point-a-game clip, and he did not have an answer. “But, we need it,’’ Maurice would say. Indeed they did.

With so many of Florida’s top players out of the lineup, Marchand stepped up and ended up scoring 54 points in 52 games before being shut down due to his lingering hip/sports hernia issue.

The Panthers certainly are not counting on the 38-year-old Marchand to carry the scoring load this season, but he will get his chances playing on a line with Anton Lundell and Eetu Luostarinen that forces plenty of turnovers which in turn leads to odd-man rushes.

We do not expect Marchand to challenge for the scoring title on the Panthers — but we’re not putting anything past him, either.

Carter Verhaeghe

Verhaeghe is adept at creating his own space on the ice, and his shot is lethal when it is on point.

A few years back, Verhaeghe led all Panthers with 42 goals then followed that up with 34 the following season.

Verhaeghe has not been scoring as much as he and the Panthers would like, but he has hit the 20-goal mark for five straight seasons and gets plenty of chances playing up on Florida’s vaunted top-6.

Sasha Barkov

We know Barkov could lead the Panthers in scoring if he really wanted to. After a year on the sidelines, perhaps the Barkov Beast will be unleashed.

Barkov has led the Panthers in points — and in goals — a few times during his career, the last coming in 2018-19 when he went off with 96 points off 35 markers.

With all the firepower the Panthers have, Barkov is going to feast when it comes to distributing the puck.

But there are plenty of players who can get the puck to Barkov, too. And he knows what to do with it.

Sasha Barkov celebrates a goal during Game 2 of the 2025 Eastern Conference final in Raleigh. // James Guillory-Imagn ImagesCredit: IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Sam Bennett

Bennett came within four points of overtaking Reinhart for the team scoring lead last year, but under the right conditions, he could do it this season.

Although Bennett is expected to start on the second power play which would limit his chances, he is a strong 5-on-5 point producer who will be lined up with at least one of the Tkachuk Bros. — if not both.

There are going to be plenty of points available for Bennett this year, and he pretty good at finding them.

Seth Jones

The Panthers have not had a defenseman lead the team in scoring since, well, do not even remember.

Hold on. Going to look it up.

Ok. Never been done. Brian Campbell finished second in 2013. Robert Svehla and Mike Van Ryn finished third a few times.

That’s it.

So, perhaps do not bet on Jones.

But, he will certainly get plenty of chances to put up points especially if he is quarterbacking what could be a very powerful top power play unit.

Last year, a third of his goals and points came off the power play in limited action due to his injuries.

ON DECK: FLORIDA PANTHERS OFFSEASON

This article: The Florida Panthers with the Best Chance to Lead Team in Scoring originally appeared on Florida Hockey Now.

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