Reilly Smith roasts Panthers over idea of playing without fans

There’s little room for humour during a global pandemic, but Vegas Golden Knights forward Reilly Smith found a way to get some jokes off at the expense of his former club.

Teams across all sports are now preparing for the possibility of playing home games without fans, a measure the San Jose Sharks enacted Monday, as the rates of people affected by the coronavirus continue to rise rapidly.

Smith was asked about the possibility and fried the Florida Panthers in the process.

“I played a few years in Florida so I’m kind of used to it,” Smith said, via Danny Webster of NHL.com.

He’s not necessarily wrong, either. Florida ranks 29th in average attendance, with 14,104 people usually headed to the BB&T Center for home games.

Vegas, for what it’s worth, ranks 13th, averaging 18,310 fans per game.

Perhaps Smith is still upset that the Panthers traded him to the Golden Knights at the expansion draft, or maybe he’s just trolling for no real reason—either way he’s thrived with his new team and is pacing towards a career year.

Times like these can certainly be alarming, so good on Smith for adding a bit of much-needed levity.

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