Campbell: Sam Bennett is Proving To Be Very Valuable for Panthers in Playoffs

Hi everybody. Well, you know, every Wednesday night during the hockey season I go out and I play pick up hockey very, very badly with and against a bunch of other old out of shape guys who play very, very badly as well. And then afterwards, we retire to a local establishment for beer and chicken wings because really, that's the whole reason why we play. But in any event, towards the end of the season this year, at one of our post game libation sessions, I posed the following question. I said, you know, if you had to go into a playoff series, who would you rather have in your lineup, Austin Matthews or Sam Bennett? And it actually prompted a pretty lively debate. But I don't think you can debate at all the fact that Sam Bennett has been an absolute force in these play offs and you cannot debate his value to the Florida Panthers. He's only played fourteen games. I get that they've played nineteen. He's played fourteen of those games. But what he's done in those games, he's got 12 points, he's got six goals. And and he has been able to set a tone and and establish a physical style of play and way of playing the game that has gone on penalized. And and that speaks as much to how the game is called as to Sam Bennett's value to it. You know, as long as Sam Bennett is going to be permitted to run around and do the things that he does on the ice, he interferes, he charges, he knees, he he gets into all kinds of skullduggery. Nice word. And he's on. He's generally speaking, not penalized for it. And if they're going to call the games that way and he's going to take advantage of it, that makes him a pretty darn valuable player. I'm not saying he's going to win the Conn Smythe trophy or even come close, but man, he's got to be in consideration if the Florida Panthers win the Stanley Cup here. You know, I mean, I looked at it and like, if I told you to tell me where you think Sam Bennett is in the NHL penalty minute race in the playoffs, you'd probably say he's got to be in the top 20, right? No, he's 57th in playoff in playoff penalty minutes with eight playoff penalty minutes. He's he's not even the most penalized guy named Sam on his own team. Sam Reinhard has 12 penalty minutes. So, and I get that he's played fewer games, but the point is Sam Bennett is is is playing on the edge of the rule book. He's going over the edge and he's not being called for it. And for that, for his ability to realize that and for his ability to be able to exploit that, he has been an amazingly valuable part of the Florida Panthers. And he's a big reason why they are now two wins away from their first Stanley Cup in franchise history. For The Hockey News, I'm Ken Campbell.