WATCH: Florida Panthers celebrate Stanley Cup victory with parade
The Florida Panthers gathered alongside hometown fans to celebrate the Stanley Cup with a victory parade at Fort Lauderdale Beach.
Florida Panthers fans asked for it. Sam Bennett himself promised it. And general manager Bill Zito delivered.
Bennett signed his anticipated eight-year contract extension June 27 worth $64 million. The 29-year-old was due to become a free agent July 1. He would have been among the most coveted players on the market after winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, scoring a team-record 15 goals during the Panthers’ run to a second straight Stanley Cup.
Zito has done remarkable work in building and maintaining his team through three consecutive runs to the Stanley Cup Final. He’s locked up major components through at least the 2029-30 season, with Bennett joining Aleksander Barkov, Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart, Gustav Forsling, Anton Lundell and trade deadline acquisition Seth Jones. But he lost a host of key players from the Panthers’ first championship team, and there are two more big ones whose fates are undetermined: longtime Florida stalwart Aaron Ekblad and hated enemy-turned-fan favorite Brad Marchand.
In celebrations after beating the Edmonton Oilers for the second year in a row, fans chanted, “Eight more years!” when Bennett appeared at the legendary Elbo Room bar in Fort Lauderdale. At various events around South Florida, he told cheering crowds that he was staying.
It will be harder to bring back the other two. Let’s break down the Bennett contract and what the Panthers might do with impending free agents Marchand and Ekblad:
Sam Bennett contract
Bennett has been a star since coming to Florida via trade from Calgary in 2021. The No. 4 overall pick in the 2014 NHL draft has scored 95 goals and put up 101 assists over five seasons in Sunrise, plus 27 and 24 over the past three postseasons. The center had a career-high 51 points this season.
He signed a four-year, $17.7 million deal with Florida before the 2021-22 season, so his new deal is a major boost to his wallet. Bennett counted just short of $4.5 million each year against the salary cap, a number that will rise to $8 million annually after the new deal kicks in.
Brad Marchand’s future with Florida Panthers
When the Panthers traded for the longtime Boston Bruins star, opposing teams knew the pestering wing would slot perfectly into Florida’s physical system. He had a slow start as he worked his way back from injury, but he was a goal-scoring machine in the playoffs, nearly taking Conn Smythe honors away from Bennett. He had 10 goals and 10 assists over the postseason for 20 points, the second-most in his long career, and scored one of the most important goals during the run to the Cup, a game-winner in double overtime of Game 2 in Edmonton to even the series.
But Marchand is 37 years old. He scored just 51 points this season, his lowest total since 2014-15. His style of play will make it tempting to bring him back, but there’s a good chance the Panthers won’t be able to afford him. His pedigree and playoff run will make other teams — Toronto, perhaps — want to bring him in for one more big deal for a championship run. Florida’s benefit of no state tax likely won’t help them that much.
Aaron Ekblad’s future with Florida Panthers
Before the Flames took Bennett with the No. 4 pick in the 2014 draft, the Panthers grabbed premier defenseman Aaron Ekblad first overall. He won the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year and was an All-Star twice as a teenager, putting up 118 goals and 262 assists over his 11-year career with Florida.
The 29-year-old is more expendable now, though. He finished sixth in Norris Trophy voting in 2022, but that was the only time he’s received votes as the league’s best defenseman since his second All-Star season. The addition of Seth Jones means there are more options for Gustav Forsling’s partner on the first defensive pairing with Dmitry Kulikov and Niko Mikkola still on the roster.
Florida had about $19 million to spend in free agency before the Bennett extension. There’s a chance they bring back one of Marchand or Ekblad, but bringing back both while still refortifying for a three-peat seems like a stretch.