ECF: Florida Panthers (A3) vs Carolina Hurricanes (M3) - PANTHERS WIN 4-1

[Paulie Walnuts]

Bennett has to take some blame but the organization did him zero favours with the worst coaching hires. He went to Florida under a hall of fame coach and turned it around. He also turned it around with another hall of fame coach in Sutter.

You need to develop players not everyone will be tearing it up right away. Bennett came here when the team tried to fast track the rebuild and try to compete when the team still needed building.

[Macho0978]

Carolina trades Necas and Drury for Rantanen, then trades Rantanen for Stankoven and 2 1sts. They still made the conference finals. They are more than ok. They have a ton of cap space, very good high-end prospects and extra picks.

The core is young still. Slavin is only 30 and he is the oldest of the key players.

Florida is the best team in the league, but key players could be gone next year. It's not Carolina's time yet.

[midniteowl]

Carolina should try to sign Bennett if they have a chance, they need jam in the lineup.

[Macho0978]

Originally Posted by midniteowl

Carolina should try to sign Bennett if they have a chance, they need jam in the lineup.

They have Roslovic who they probably will resign, and they probably should let everyone else go. Roslovic shouldn't get a huge raise, assuming he doesn't they will have nearly a full roster with $30 mil to spend.

I think Bennett would be a great add for them.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

Yeah but they won't regret it come playoff time which is the point of any team signing Bennett as he's a playoff beast. One of the best playoff players in the NHL.

Players like Bennett have a finite shelf life. He'll be 29 next month and coming into next season from 2 (likely) cup deep playoff runs. Whatever team signs him for big dollars is going to regret it IMO. He might be able to turn it on a bit next playoffs, but I don't see him making the kind of impact he's having in Florida

[Jiri Hrdina]

Wait. Sam Bennett is almost 29?!?!
When the hell did that happen.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Wait. Sam Bennett is almost 29?!?!
When the hell did that happen.

Sam Bennett has only ever been 18 years old and 30 years old. There was no in-between.

[midniteowl]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Wait. Sam Bennett is almost 29?!?!
When the hell did that happen.

Yeah right? It seems it's only yesterday that he is 18 year old Sam Bennett.

[WideReceiver]

Florida looking like it may not lose again. LOL

[Buff]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

Wait. Sam Bennett is almost 29?!?!
When the hell did that happen.

Today. Yesterday. Every day.

[BaconGuy]

Originally Posted by WideReceiver

Florida looking like it may not lose again. LOL

This would be okay for one reason in particular

[FanIn80]

Zito’s up for GM of the year again. Should get it just for the Marchand deal alone.

[FanIn80]

lol

https://twitter.com/user/status/1925912047222436196

[Hackey]

Someone is likely going to regret signing Bennett to a big contract if he leaves Florida. He's perfectly slotted on a team that plays a brand of hockey perfect for him. I don't think he would have the same success on the Leafs or Canes.

[dino7c]

I heard some talking heads saying there are teams planning to offer Bennett 10M/year!

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

Zito’s up for GM of the year again. Should get it just for the Marchand deal alone.

Didn't Marchand say he would only go to the Panthers

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by dino7c

I heard some talking heads saying there are teams planning to offer Bennett 10M/year!

That’s nuts.

But hilarious too as Calgary just couldn’t figure out how to get enough value out of him to keep him. But I guess Emil Heineman worked out pretty well

A while back Kypreos apparently said Florida was initiating long term conversations around 7.5 per year

https://www.nhltraderumors.me/2025/0...veals-sam.html

[jg13]

Yeah I also saw "one team may be willing to pay Bennett up to 10M" I certainly hope that is not us.

[DeluxeMoustache]

Originally Posted by Paulie Walnuts

Bennett has to take some blame but the organization did him zero favours with the worst coaching hires. He went to Florida under a hall of fame coach and turned it around. He also turned it around with another hall of fame coach in Sutter.

You need to develop players not everyone will be tearing it up right away. Bennett came here when the team tried to fast track the rebuild and try to compete when the team still needed building.

I’m fairly sure Bennett, who is shining his cup ring, and tied for 7th in playoff scoring, behind 2 guys who are done for the year, has zero concerns about whether he should be taking any blame for anything with respect to his time in Calgary

[Itse]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

So you think they should have traded one of their key players, this season - a season in which they won the division?

Not exactly.

It was extremely stupid to let the situation get to that position. They should have either traded him or re-signed him way earlier.

It's the exact same situation as with Gaudreau, yet Treliving learned nothing.

Except worse, because Marner is nowhere near the same thing to Leafs or their fans as Gaudreau was to Flames, and making changes to their core was something a lot of Leafs fans were actually begging for.