Sam Bennett may be playing himself off of Team Canada
Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett has cemented himself as a one-of-a-kind pest and playoff hero over the past three years as his team has made three straight Stanley Cup Finals while winning the past two.
In 42 playoff games the past two postseasons, he’s put up a total of 36 points to provide invaluable secondary scoring behind Florida’s top line, even winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP in 2025.
Earlier in the year, he served as Canada’s third-line center at the 4 Nations Face-Off, teaming up with future NHL teammate Brad Marchand to help his country win the championship at the event.
After the best season of his career, Bennett opted to forego unrestricted free agency and sign a lucrative eight-year, $64 million deal to stay in Sunrise. So far in year one, he has not been able to replicate his previous success. Bennett has just four points in 13 games so far as Florida has faltered without first-line center Aleksander Barkov.
With other young Canadians who did not make the 4 Nations roster a year ago making extremely strong cases, including Nick Suzuki and Macklin Celebrini, could Bennett find himself on the outside looking in with not much time left until roster decisions are due?
On Thursday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and co-host and former NHL goaltender Carter Hutton discussed whether Bennett’s slump could result in him not making the Canadian Olympic roster.
Tyler Yaremchuk: I’m going to give you a take, you’re going to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10. I want to focus in on Sam Bennett, talk a little Olympics here. Sam Bennett only has two goals on the season… I’m going to say Sam Bennett has played his way off of Team Canada.
Carter Hutton: I want to say this is a 7. I don’t think he’s totally played his way off of it based on merit alone and the way he can crank it up when it matters most… This is a guy that gets it done when the chips are on the table and it’s a hard-fought game… His role isn’t to score goals.
Tyler Yaremchuk: I don’t think it’s a tough decision. I get that you want some grit and some intensity in your bottom six, sure. I just don’t know if you can take it at the risk of putting who appears to be a pretty one-dimensional player in your lineup right now.
Carter Hutton: The biggest thing you would have to focus on is making sure you have guys in that role that can still be capable of playing lower minutes. When you change a player’s minutes down to eight in a tougher role, how do they adapt? But I’m with you in the sense of the way the youth have changed the game with skating and skill and speed, if you aren’t able to keep up… it almost becomes irrelevant at a time if you can’t get up and down the ice and forecheck and create separation throughout the neutral zone against younger, energetic guys with skating ability through the roof.
You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…