Conn Smythe-winner and all-around impact player Sam Bennett signed a max eight-year, $64 million contract to remain with the Florida Panthers on Friday.
The 29-year-old forward had 25 goals and a career-high 51 points in 76 regular-season games for the Panthers this season. He produced a playoff-leading 15 goals and 22 points in 23 Stanley Cup Playoff games to help the Cats capture the Stanley Cup for the second straight season.
Bennett set a new NHL record by scoring 13 road goals in the postseason.
Selected by the Calgary Flames with the fourth overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, Bennett has 336 points (162G/174A) in 691 regular-season games for the Flames and Panthers, and 78 points (40G/38A) in 107 playoff games.
The Panthers acquired Bennett on April 12, 2021, along with a sixth-round pick in 2022 (that was later traded to Buffalo for Robert Hagg) in exchange for the draft rights to Emil Heineman and a second-round pick in 2022 (that was later traded to Seattle for Calle Jarnkrok).
With Bennett, Aleksander Barkov and Anton Lundell, Florida’s depth down the middle remains formidable for the foreseeable future.
After keeping Bennett in the fold, Florida will turn its attention to its remaining unrestricted free agents which include Brad Marchand, Aaron Ekblad, Nate Schmidt, Tomas Nosek and Nico Strum. Restricted free agent Mackie Samoskevich also needs a new contract, as does newly-acquired RFA backup goaltender, Daniil Tarasov.
A lot to do and not a lot of cap space ($11 million as per PuckPedia) to do it. That said, getting Bennett -re-signed is done, so the biggest domino of the offseason has fallen.