Panthers Are Going To Find It Even Tougher To Sign Bennett Now

If Sam Bennett reaches free agency, he is going to be a very hot commodity. The Florida Panthers don't want it to get there. Bennett has expressed wanting to sign back with the Panthers, but the better he does in the playoffs, the more likely his number is going to move just a little higher.

The Panthers already don't have a ton of cap space to work with this offseason considering the players they need to re-sign. Florida has $19 million in projected cap space to sign Bennett, Aaron Ekblad, Mackie Samoskevich, Brad Marchand, Tomas Nosek, Nico Sturm, Vitek Vanecek/backup goalie, and Nate Schmidt/sixth defenseman. They are finally going to lose some pieces because asking their players to take a lot less won't work after three consecutive Stanley Cup Final runs and at least one win.

According to Elliotte Friedman, the Panthers have been trying to get Bennett on a similar deal to Carter Verhaeghe at $7 million for eight years, but that won't get it done any more. Bennett is a serious Conn Smythe contender this season as the Panthers are one win away from their second consecutive Stanley Cup and the 28-year-old has 15 goals and 22 points in 22 games.

Bennett has been great this playoffs and has stepped his game up to a whole new level. The Panthers do have Anton Lundell who could move up to the second line center role if Bennett leaves, but it appears as though the Panthers are going to do what they can to keep all of the core pieces together. The asks for lower AAVs doesn't seem to be working as it has in the past and as the team had hoped. I think this will result in the team losing at least one of Bennett, Ekblad, and Marchand. Maybe even two if another Cup is won and the money is a lot more in free agency, which it usually is.