Kingston Frontenacs Alumni Sam Bennett is Built for the Playoffs

Sam Bennett and the Florida Panthers are on their way to the Stanley Cup Final for the second consecutive season.

Whether you love or hate him, you simply cannot deny that Sam Bennett is built for the playoffs. He and the Florida Panthers have advanced to the Stanley Cup Final for the second straight season, after defeating the New York Rangers in Game 6 last night.

The Holland Landing, Ontario native had his career start in the OHL. He was a top prospect in his OHL draft year playing for the Toronto Marlboros U16 AAA and was picked ninth overall by the Kingston Frontenacs. The player who went first overall in that draft was none other than Connor McDavid, who was Bennett’s teammate on the Marlboros that season.

Bennett made an immediate impact as a 16-year-old in the OHL, scoring 18 goals, 40 points, and 87 penalty minutes in his first season. He was voted onto the second all-rookie team and then started to focus on his all-important NHL draft year.

Doug Gilmour, Kingston’s GM at the time, had this to say about Bennett in a Sportsnet article written by Mark Spector back in 2015, “In training camp, right away we knew we had a special player. As young guys go, a lot of time when they’re 15 turning 16, they’re going to play fourth-line. Maybe third-line at best. Slowly, you get them used to the level. For him, it was first or second line right away.”

He started his 2013-14 season off representing Team Canada at the Ivan Hlinka Memorial tournament (now the Hlinka Gretzky Cup) and captured gold alongside his Florida Panther teammate, Aaron Ekblad. Bennett then went to Kingston and was quickly making a name for himself with NHL scouts. He finished the year with 91 points in 57 games, and maybe unsurprisingly, tallied off 118 penalty minutes.

He and his Frontenacs suffered a heartwrenching defeat in the first round of the OHL playoffs that season. They held a 3-0 series lead before getting reverse swept, losing four in a row. Funny enough, Florida’s Steven Lorentz was on that Petes team. Sam led his team in scoring in their first-round exit with five goals and nine points.

Despite the disappointing end to the season, Bennett took home the CHL Top Prospect of the Year Award and was voted onto the OHL third all-star team.

There was one last stop for him before the NHL Draft, where he was already being deemed a lock to go in the top 10, and for some, even the top five. It was time for Bennett to showcase his strength and fitness in front of NHL personnel at the Draft Combine in Buffalo. Well unfortunately, he became a headline for the wrong reasons, as he failed to do a single pull-up.

Imagine the Sam Bennett we watch today on the Florida Panthers failing to do a pull-up. It was reported later on that he was dealing with a significant shoulder injury, which limited his strength and ability to perform that test. Regardless, he would still get drafted in the top five, going fourth overall to the Calgary Flames in 2014.

Bennett went on to have a very rocky tenure in Calgary. As a fourth overall pick, expectations are sky-high and you’re expected to start producing as soon as you enter the show. That didn’t happen for him. In his first four seasons, he registered only 115 points in 311 games. And this was after he made a strong first impression with the Flames, joining them in the 2015 playoffs where he didn’t look one bit out of place.

He started to get labeled a bust and clearly lost his identity at the end of his time in Calgary. The Florida Panthers acquired Bennett in 2021, which has turned out to be an absolute steal for the two-time Eastern Conference champions.

“Five on five, he plays against all the best players all the time. He kills penalties. He hits. He blocks shots. He does it all.” That was Doug Gilmour’s description of Sam Bennett back in 2014 when he spoke with Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star.

It’s a pretty accurate breakdown of what Bennett has provided to Florida since coming aboard. Once a talented prospect, he’s morphed his game into the perfect blend of a two-way, power forward. He’s one of the hardest players to play against due to his ability to incite fear into his opponents. He plays his man hard during and after the play, and that next-level competitive edge he possesses gives him an advantage at the most important time of the year, the playoffs.

Obviously, he has been known to cross the line from time to time. But whether you want to admit or hide from it, hockey players are trying to hurt one another when physicality is initiated. 

Bennett is not seen as an offensive-threatening player. His career-high in points is 49 and for goals it’s 28, which came in 2021-22. He is a 0.46 point-per-game player in his NHL career during the regular season. But that number jumps up to 0.68 in the playoffs. He seems to come alive offensively during the post-season.

Last year he had five goals and 15 points in Florida’s playoff run. This year, he has surpassed his goals total from last year with six in 12 games. You could argue that he was the Panthers’ MVP in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Rangers. He had goals in four of six games, six points, and 27 hits. Also, here’s a crazy stat for you considering the way Bennett plays. He has only four penalty minutes in the 2024 NHL playoffs.

He just simply has that dog in him and understands what it takes to get it done this time of year. His motor is relentless and he wants to be a difference-maker during the playoffs. Hockey is a mean, physical sport, and that’s probably why Bennett loves playing at this time of year.