The Florida Panthers won a second consecutive Stanley Cup on Tuesday, and now they finally have a Conn Smythe Trophy winner, too.
Center Sam Bennett was chosen the most valuable player of the 2025 postseason after Florida closed out the Stanley Cup Final with a 5-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 at Sunrise, Fla.
Though Bennett didn’t tally a point in the finale of the best-of-seven finals, he had five goals and one assist against Edmonton. That left him with an NHL-high 15 goals in the 2025 postseason, to go with seven assists.
Bennett established an NHL record with 13 road goals in a single postseason, tallying at least one goal in each of the Panthers’ final six away contests.
“I’m obviously super grateful, it means the world to me, but I really couldn’t have done it without this whole group,” Bennett said of winning the Conn Smythe.
He added, “My whole focus was on winning the Stanley Cup. It’s a huge honor to be nominated as the MVP, but there truly are 25 MVPs on this team, and it could’ve gone to anyone.”
The Oilers’ star forwards, Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, tied for the postseason lead with 33 points apiece. McDavid received the Conn Smythe Trophy last year even though Edmonton lost to Florida in a seven-game Stanley Cup Final.
Bennett, 28, registered career-high totals in goals (25) and assists (26) in the regular season. In 11 NHL seasons (691 games) with the Calgary Flames (2014-15 to 2020-21) and Florida (2020-21 to present), he has 162 goals and 174 goals.
“I mean, I always believed in myself. I always knew I could be more than I was when I first got traded, but it’s all a dream, I guess, until you actually do it,” Bennett said. “I don’t think I knew how difficult it would be and how much work it would take. I mean, my whole life switched when I got traded here, and I’m super grateful to be here. Yeah, I don’t take that for granted.”
Six Florida players ended up with at least 20 postseason points, led by Sam Reinhart (11 goals, 12 assists), Carter Verhaeghe (seven goals, 16 assists) and Matthew Tkachuk (eight goals, 15 assists) with 23 points apiece. Aleksander Barkov (six goals, 16 assists) joined Bennett with 22 points, while Brad Marchand (10 goals, 10 assists) had 20 points.
–Field Level Media
