The Florida Panthers and restricted free agent Sam Bennett have agreed to a four-year, $17.7 million contract, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports.
Bennett, 25, was due to be a restricted free agent on Wednesday, with the opening of the new league year. He’s now under contract through the 2024-25 season, carrying a cap hit of $4.425 million annually. The new deal takes up his final RFA year (arbitration-eligible) plus three UFA years.
Benny & the Cats
It’s official: We’ve got four more years of @sbennett93!!
https://t.co/av3XDXBwXp pic.twitter.com/9CbKaPPQu9— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) July 26, 2021
After spending the first seven years of his pro career with the Calgary Flames, the club that drafted him fourth overall in 2014, Bennett joined the Panthers at this year’s trade deadline. The fresh start in Florida brought instant success — after registering just four goals and 12 points in 38 regular season games with Calgary, the gritty middle-six forward tallied six goals and 15 points in just 10 games with his new club to close out the season. He was also extremely effective in what was a short post-season run, playing at a point-per-game pace in five games against Tampa Bay.
fla
COMMENTS
When submitting content, please abide by our submission guidelines, and avoid posting profanity, personal attacks or harassment. Should you violate our submissions guidelines, we reserve the right to remove your comments and block your account. Sportsnet reserves the right to close a story’s comment section at any time.