‘I ain't ... leaving,' Panthers' Sam Bennett says at Miami nightclub celebration

Miami Herald

4 hours ago

The Florida Panthers continued their Stanley Cup championship celebration Thursday night into Friday morning by traveling south to Miami for a night at E11even, a world-famous nightclub where they also partied after their first title a year ago.
Amid the frenzied party — which included Sam Reinhart climbing a stripper pole, Brad Marchand crowd surfing and, yes, plenty of booze flowing — a key player might have revealed big news regarding his future with the team.
Center Sam Bennett, who won the Conn Smythe trophy as playoffs MVP and is slated to become a free agent on July 1, told the crowd from the main stage that he intends to stay with the team long-term.
'I ain't [expletive] leaving!' Bennett proclaimed to the crowd partying with the team.
Now, nothing is official on a deal just yet, but Bennett is a player the Panthers are prioritizing bringing back. He has been an identity player for the franchise during the past few years with his combination of physicality and scoring touch embodying the exact style of play Florida has been honing for three years under coach Paul Maurice.
His stellar postseason — he led the league with 15 goals while also finishing second with 107 hits — made for the case that his price tag could skyrocket if he chooses to test the open market.
But Bennett has found a home in Florida and saw a career resurgence here. After struggling to take off to start his career with the Calgary Flames, Bennett thrived when given an expanded opportunity with the Panthers. Bennett has put up 196 points (95 goals, 101 assists) over 289 regular-season games while laying out 616 hits and blocking 151 shots. In the playoffs, Bennett has 29 goals and 59 points in 77 career games for the Panthers.
For comparison, Bennett had just 140 points (67 goals, 73 assists) in 402 games in Calgary.
He also knows their window to contend for titles is still wide open.
'It's harder than I ever imagined to win the Stanley Cup once and twice was even harder,' Bennett said Tuesday after Florida secured the win. 'It's a huge honor to be a part of this group. I'm not going to take it for granted. I love being here, and I love this team. It's a remarkable team to be part of, just from the whole the staff to the players to the management, owner, the coaches, like truly, everyone is world class here.'
And if he holds true to his word from Thursday night, he's not going anywhere.
In addition to Bennett, Marchand and defenseman Aaron Ekblad are Florida's other key players set to enter free agency. The Panthers only have $19 million in cap space, but president of hockey operations and general manager Bill Zito said he sees a path where all three could be re-signed.
Meanwhile, for a glimpse of how things went down at E11ven, look below. The party will surely continue throughout town over the next couple days before the team's official parade on Sunday.