Sam Bennett says he’s staying in Florida with hopes Panthers turn into a dynasty

SUNRISE Fla AP Sam Bennett could have gone to free agency and picked his landing spot plus supposedly could have signed for much more money than the Florida Panthers were able to offer Instead he chose winning Bennett the reigning Conn Smythe Award winner as playoff MVP of Florida s preponderance contemporary run to the Stanley Cup spoke out Saturday about his decision to sign an eight-year million deal with the Panthers His reasoning was genuinely quite simple I think we have a lot more success in our future Bennett noted It s not hard to envision that given how the back-to-back Stanley Cup champions now have eight core players Bennett Aleksander Barkov Matthew Tkachuk Sam Reinhart Carter Verhaeghe Gustav Forsling Anton Lundell and Seth Jones under contract through at least Bennett s status especially after winning the Conn Smythe following a -goal performance in the playoffs might have seemed to be in particular question a couple weeks ago He disclosed at a Miami nightclub last week that he was staying there was no deal at the time and his agent wasn t happy that he did that but it was clear that Bennett was hoping something would get done in Florida Teammates were evidently thrilled when the news broke Friday night I got like three FaceTimes right away from the boys Bennett stated A couple of them were together and they were so fired up The group chat was going nuts I ve declared it a million times this group is so tight So various guys that really care about each other I was definitely feeling the love last night Bennett is critical to the Panthers at both ends He was one of three players in the NHL this season Ottawa s Brady Tkachuk Matthew Tkachuk s brother and Washington s Tom Wilson were the other two with at least points and penalty minutes He mentioned his decision came down to not seeing a need to take risks He loves playing in Florida loves being part of the Panthers loves who he goes to work with every day More money or a new role wasn t going to outweigh all of that I think we really have the chance to truly make this association a dynasty Bennett stated I m really just grateful that I get the chance to be a part of it There are so various pieces in this puzzle that create this company and the success that this association has And just to be a small piece of that is an honor Looking forward to growing this legacy for the next eight years for sure