Sam Bennett couldn’t have been more thrilled after arriving in Miami in 2021. “I never felt so comfortable in my life playing hockey,” the forward said. Now with the Florida Panthers playing in the finals of the 2025 Stanley Cup championships, Bennett has proved his prowess by scoring 3 goals in the last two matches against the Edmonton Oilers, including 1 in the ongoing Game 3! With the Finals drawing closer to its end, the spotlight will once again shift towards the postseason’s most compelling figure, but in a different way.

A solid second-line centre with a respectable 53-point pace in the regular season, Bennett will soon hit free agency once the championship is over. And that’s when the actual buzz begins. While it’s true that Bennett is the kind of battle-tested warrior who knows how to show up when the stakes are highest, there’s also his bruising style that many don’t approve of, given that it could take a toll as he ages! $8–10 million, indeed, is a big amount, but not for the ones who argue it’s a small price to pay for a player who shows up when it counts. And the teams that have him on their radar know that very well, forcing Paul Maurice to do what he can to make sure he doesn’t lose his playoff trump card.

When TNT’s Jackie Redmond caught up with Paul Maurice right after Bennett scored his fourth goal of the series, the Panthers’ HC was all praises for him. “Well, he’s so good all over the ice, but he doesn’t cheat the game for the two goals,” he said. “He’s underpucked. He does all the hard right things and that’s just who he is,” he added.

But when Redmond joked about how Bennett’s agent won’t have much trouble landing him a juicy new contract, Maurice realized that he had just made Bennett even more attractive for teams looking to land his signature this offseason. “He’s got a horrible attitude. I think he’s got bubonic plague,” he joked. “He’s got a whole bunch of things. We’re not sure he can be cured,” he added. Well, what can you say? A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.

And Bennett indeed is the one. After all, with 14 goals to his name, he is sitting pretty at the top of this year’s postseason goal-scoring charts. He and Marchand together have a combined score of 8 for Florida’s 13 goals in the series. No wonder that even Paul Maurice couldn’t rein it in while praising the center. In fact, even rivals cannot help but acknowledge him.

There’s no denying Sam Bennett’s brilliance

Oilers’ captain, Connor McDavid, and Bennett had been close teammates since childhood. While sharing a longer and more personal history with Bennett, the captain shared some heartfelt words while throwing the spotlight on this childhood friend, despite playing against each other now.

In an interview before Game 3 between the Panthers and the Oilers, McDavid said, “Yeah, he’s always played with an edge. Ever since he was a little guy. So, you know, nothing that we haven’t seen before.” He reflected on the days back when both of them were part of the York Simcoe Express team. It was during 2009, when both Sam Bennett and McDavid competed in the Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament, and even during that time, Bennett stood out as a player.

Coming to the present day, it’s the same old Bennett who knows his edge and remains one of the most forceful players in the league. “But obviously he’s playing really well, you know, scoring goals. He’s a good player, and we got to figure him out,” McDavid added. As for figuring Bennett out, the Oilers have not really been successful in that till now.