Panthers Sign Conn Smythe-Winner Sam Bennett To 8-year Extension

The Florida Panthers are still celebrating a second straight Stanley Cup victory, but that doesn't mean they don't still have some work to do ahead of this weekend's NHL Draft and free agency, which gets underway at noon ET on July 1.

On Friday, shortly before the first round of the draft got underway in Los Angeles, the Cats crossed off one of the biggest items on their to-do list and locked up Conn Smythe Trophy winner Sam Bennett to an eight-year, $64 million deal that should prove beneficial to both sides.

Bennett's previous deal had an average annual value of $4.425 million, and that big raise to an $8 million AAV is certainly something he'll be happy about and something the Panthers likely had no qualms about giving him. He has been that good over the last few seasons, and was an integral part of both Cup wins, as well as the 2023 run that came up a little bit short against the Vegas Golden Knights.

Even better for Bennett, he's signing an eight-year deal in what is likely to be the final summer that's even an option due to reported changes in the next collective bargaining agreement.

Bennett was one of three major free agents the Panthers had to make decisions on, with the other two being Brad Marchand and Aaron Ekblad, and he was definitely the one that they needed to sign first. 

According to Puckpedia, the Panthers now have a projected $11 million in cap space, which will be plenty to sign one of those guys, but not both unless they make some sort of move to clear a little money off the books.

We'll see how they play it, but I think it's probably safe to say that whatever they do, the Panthers will be contenders once again next season.