Florida Panthers' Sam Bennett wins Conn Smythe Trophy

Panthers centre Sam Bennett was on Tuesday named the most valuable player of the 2025 postseason after Florida retained the Stanley Cup with a 5-1 win over the Edmonton Oilers in Game 6 of the NHL Final in Sunrise, Florida.

Although Bennett didn’t record a point in the decisive game of the best-of-seven Stanley Cup Final, he finished the series with five goals and one assist against the Oilers. His post-season totals included an NHL-best 15 goals and seven assists in 2025.



Bennett also set a new NHL record with 13 road goals in a single post-season, finding the net in each of the Panthers' final six away games.

The 28-year-old Bennett enjoyed a career-best regular season with 25 goals and 26 assists. Over 11 NHL seasons and 691 games with the Calgary Flames (2014–15 to 2020–21) and Florida Panthers (2020–21 to present), he has tallied 162 goals and 174 assists.


Florida’s postseason success was driven by balanced scoring, with six players reaching at least 20 playoff points. Sam Reinhart led the way with 11 goals and 12 assists, tied at 23 points with Carter Verhaeghe (7G, 16A) and Matthew Tkachuk (8G, 15A).

Aleksander Barkov (6G, 16A) and Bennett (15G, 7A) each had 22 points, while Brad Marchand contributed 10 goals and 10 assists.