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SUNRISE, Fla. — Everything one needs to understand about Florida Panthers center Sam Bennett as a Stanley Cup playoffs juggernaut was epitomized by one shift in their Game 3 win over the Edmonton Oilers.

It began with a backcheck. It continued with a thundering hit on Oilers forward Vasily Podkolzin right after he released the puck — brutal, legal. Podkolzin had made a short pass to Edmonton defenseman John Klingberg, so Bennett hit him, too. He kept fighting for the puck along the boards before attempting a clear that was intercepted briefly, before Panthers forward Eetu Luostarinen jarred it loose.

Bennett saw this and — like he had just used a power-up in a game of Mario Kart — blew past everyone to accept a pass for a breakaway on Stuart Skinner, who was frozen in place as Bennett deposited the puck behind him for the fourth goal of a 6-1 blowout.

“That shift was a perfect example of his game: Blows two guys up and then he somehow leads the rush after that to score a beautiful goal. He can do it all,” said Brad Marchand, a one-time Bennett adversary turned Panthers teammate. “He has been an animal this whole playoffs. He’s built for this time of year.”

Every round, Bennett has validated this thesis. He leads the NHL postseason in goals with 14, four more than Edmonton star Leon Draisaitl. This is Florida’s third straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final. In that span, no one on the Panthers has scored as many goals (26) as Bennett.

“You just see him year after year, playoffs after playoffs. That’s where he makes his name,” Matthew Tkachuk said. “He’s the definition of a playoff player. And it’s really fun to play with him, especially at this time of year.”

His 20 points in 20 games leads the team. In a Panthers run defined by their dominance away from Florida, he has been their road warrior, with 12 goals and three assists — his 15 away points lead the playoffs.

After the Panthers’ Game 3 win put them two victories away from repeating as Stanley Cup champions, Bennett moved into the lead in the wagering odds for the Conn Smythe Trophy as NHL playoff MVP.

He’s been a menace in every zone this postseason, but especially in the offensive zone where his punishing forechecking and controversial play around the opponents’ crease have fueled Florida’s attack.

“I think that’s one of the biggest separators that he has is when you get in this time of year that you have to be in the dirty areas and he lives there,” Marchand said. “A lot of guys get pushed at this time of year, but [it’s great] when you have that ability to and skill to capitalize in front of the net.”

Even Bennett’s rivals have to nod to his postseason acumen.

“He’s always played with an edge, ever since he was a little guy. Nothing that we haven’t seen before — he’s playing well, scoring goals,” Edmonton captain Connor McDavid said. “We’ve got to figure him out.”

This MVP-caliber moment for Bennett is the latest milestone in a peculiar 11-year journey in the NHL: From the draft prospect who couldn’t complete a pullup to a Stanley Cup champion who can’t stop frustrating opponents — by any means necessary.


BENNETT WAS DRAFTED fourth overall by the Calgary Flames in 2014 behind three other players competing in the Stanley Cup Final this season: Florida defenseman Aaron Ekblad (1st) and center Sam Reinhart (2nd, by Buffalo), and Edmonton’s Draisaitl (3rd).

A center for the Ontario Hockey League’s Kingston Frontenacs, Bennett showed palpable offensive upside to go along with his defensive prowess: 91 points in 57 games during the 2013-14 season. He said he modeled his game after Hockey Hall of Famer Doug Gilmour, a tenacious two-way player whose nickname with the Toronto Maple Leafs was “Killer.”

But heading into the 2014 draft, Bennett was known for something else: Being the prospect who couldn’t complete a single pullup at the NHL scouting combine.

That became a viral story, defining him before the Flames selected him fourth overall. Players like Ottawa Senators captain Jason Spezza called him to offer support and advice on how to deal with the embarrassment. Bennett completed five pullups later that year for a predraft television special, in an effort to prove doubters wrong.

“I knew right away he’d be embarrassed by that. He likes to succeed in everything he ever tries. Now we can joke about it, but when it first went down it was like, ‘Oh, buddy, yikes,'” his mother Diane told Maclean’s in 2014. “The fact that some people in the media doubted his motivation made me think, ‘Oh god. They don’t know Sammy at all.'”

Bennett’s first full NHL season came as a 19-year-old in 2015-16. He had 18 goals and 18 assists in 77 games, but didn’t receive a single vote for the Calder Trophy as rookie of the year. The next five seasons were defined by Bennett’s unrealized potential: 67 goals and 73 assists in 402 games, skating to a minus-67 while averaging just over 14 minutes per game in ice time. The season before the Flames traded him, Bennett was averaging just 12:31 in ice time per game — less than 31-year-old Milan Lucic (13:20) for Calgary.

The only place were Bennett excelled? The postseason. In 30 playoff games, he had a 1.63 points-per-60 minutes average, higher than his regular-season average (1.41) in that span.

“He’s always had the talent. He’s always had the work ethic, he’s always had the bite, the jam, everything. I think a lot of it has got to do with opportunity,” said Tkachuk, who played with Bennett in Calgary.

“He didn’t get the opportunity in Calgary that he has here with the minutes and how he’s utilized and everything. I don’t know why that is. Maybe that’s just a personnel thing or whatever, but he’s just taken off as a whole new player here in Florida for everybody to see — even though in Calgary I saw it all along and us as players saw it all along.”

Tkachuk was one of the Flames players that hated to see him go.

“We weren’t too thrilled, especially him being a great buddy of mine, I was not too happy when he got traded from Calgary,” he said, “but I was also so happy to see him come here and have a chance.”

Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving was running the Flames when they traded Bennett and a sixth-round pick in April 2021 for a 2022 second-round pick and winger Emil Heineman, who was subsequently traded to Montreal in a deal for winger Tyler Toffoli.

Logistically, the trade made sense for Calgary. They were likely to lose Bennett in the Seattle expansion draft that year for nothing; or, if they kept him, it would have meant giving Bennett a qualifying offer as a restricted free agent and a raise.

At the time of the trade, Treliving admitted that Bennett’s development and deployment could have been “handled a little bit differently” during his time in Calgary.

“I don’t put that on Sam. I think at the end of the day, Sam worked hard here. That was never an issue,” Treliving said. “I think he’s going to embrace a fresh start.”

Bennett appreciated the new opportunity with the Panthers.

“I definitely struggled in Calgary for a while. I think once I got here, just how the team embraced me, the opportunity the team gave me, really from the beginning, was totally different than what I was getting in Calgary,” he said. “I took that opportunity and found some success early. And then our team definitely changed quite a bit from when I first got here, but I still had that confidence.”

Bennett paid immediate dividends, scoring a career-high 28 goals in his first season in Florida on a team that finished with the best record in the NHL.

But things would change dramatically in the offseason: Coach Andrew Brunette was replaced by coach Paul Maurice, and Tkachuk arrived from Calgary in a trade for Jonathan Huberdeau, Bennett’s slickly skilled linemate who lacked the unique intangibles that Tkachuk brought to Florida.

“Sam Bennett goes from playing with Jonathan Huberdeau — fantastic player, very skilled and Benny can play that game — to playing with Matthew Tkachuk,” Maurice said. “So his game changes a little bit.”

This is where the “playoff animal” began to really emerge from Bennett. He had the scoring and the skill. He had the playoff clutch gene. Tkachuk brought out even more tenacity and agitation from Bennett — and the swagger in relishing that style of play — forging Panthers hockey into its current blunt force form.

“I think our style changed, but I think it even fit my style of game even more so. That gave me even more confidence to go out and play,” Bennett said. “I’ve got quite a few playoff games under my belt now, and always felt the need to perform when the game’s the biggest.”

Bennett plays to win. And those wins come at all costs.


BENNETT COLLIDES WITH skaters.

He received a one-game suspension in May 2021 for boarding and a three-game ban in January 2022 for an illegal check to the head of Cedric Paquette of the Montreal Canadiens. He infamously punched Marchand in the Panthers’ 2024 playoff win over the Boston Bruins, putting Marchand out of the series for two games and resulting in no punishment for Bennett.

“He’s got a good right hook,” Marchand said last month, remembering a time before they shared the same dressing room.

“He’s not as serious of a person as I thought he was. When you see him on the ice and you see him kind of around the media, he just seemed like he was quiet and very reserved,” Marchand said. “Once you get to know him, he’s actually pretty vocal and really funny and a good guy to be around. But when you see him on the ice, he’s so intense. He doesn’t really chirp. You don’t hear him during the game. He’s all business.”

Bennett also collides with goaltenders.

Like, a lot.

He collided with Anthony Stolarz in Game 1 of the second round. The Maple Leafs goaltender — Bennett’s former teammate on the Panthers — left the series with a concussion and didn’t return.

He collided with Carolina’s Frederik Andersen in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. He fell backward into Skinner’s crease in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final after battling with defenseman Brett Kulak, getting credited for a goal when the puck deflected in off him. He fell on Skinner again in Game 2, earned a penalty for goalie interference that in hindsight he hadn’t earned, having tripped over Skinner’s leg as the Edmonton goalie went to move in his crease.

During a TNT postgame show early in the Stanley Cup Final, Bennett was told that “a very large portion of the Alberta population” no longer wanted to see him in front of the Edmonton net.

“That’s where I’m going to be for the rest of this series,” Bennett said.

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Puck deflects off Sam Bennett’s skate for Panthers goal

Sam Bennett deflects in a goal for the Panthers to tie the score in the first period vs. the Oilers.

His physicality around the crease — and into goaltenders — has been the catalyst for plenty of ‘how does he keep getting away with it?’ moments of exasperation for fans and opposing teams.

“Obviously, you don’t like when guys are purposely falling into your goaltender. That’s never good, and you hope that gets noticed,” Oilers winger Evander Kane said. “You can’t go out and take a 10-minute penalty in the first period. That wouldn’t help anybody. But there are other ways to handle it. Staying aggressive and going hard to their net as well.”

Seth Jones used to defend against Bennett around the crease before joining the Panthers via trade this season.

“As a defenseman, you see where he gets around that blue paint. He pushes off. He makes himself big. Screens goal as well,” he said. “It’s just that constant body contact around the net that really elevates his game and makes it difficult to handle.”

Ekblad has been Bennett’s teammate now for five seasons. The way he sees it, Bennett earns these high-danger opportunities by going to the toughest parts of the ice.

“A lot of times there’s nothing you can do if he gets pushed, right? Just like Corey Perry, he’s extremely good at getting there and being between the D-man and a goalie, so there’s not much you can do,” Ekblad said. “Those guys have a knack for it. They’re some of the best in the league at it.”

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Sam Bennett scores on the power play for Florida Panthers

Sam Bennett scores on the power play for Florida Panthers

Bennett has been the best at most things in this playoff run for Florida. All of it is happening at a critical time for the veteran center’s career.

Bennett is an unrestricted free agent this summer. He’s in the last year of a four-year contract signed with Florida that carries an average annual value of $4.425 million. There has been speculation that Bennett could earn upwards of $10 million annually on his next contract.

He has clearly been happy as a Panther, not only in their success but in how that success has been set up by those around him.

“I’m just very fortunate to get some great teammates and great linemates and great coaches that believe in me,” he said. “I think all that together just is the perfect combination to have success.”

Whether he signs in Florida or leaves for another team’s riches, the value placed on Bennett won’t be for his regular-season achievement. Bennett has never scored 30 goals in a season, and this was his first campaign with more than 50 points.

It’ll be for his championship pedigree. For being the “definition of a playoff player.” Or, as Marchand poetically said, for simply being “an animal” when it counts the most.

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Sovereignty rallies to win Jim Dandy at Saratoga

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Sovereignty rallies to win Jim Dandy at Saratoga

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes champion Sovereignty rallied after losing position heading into the final turn to win the $500,000 Jim Dandy by a length at Saratoga on Saturday.

Ridden by Junior Alvarado, Sovereignty ran nine furlongs in 1:49.52 and paid $3 to win as the 1-2 favorite against four rivals, the smallest field of his career.

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said Sovereignty would be pointed toward the $1.25 million Travers on Aug. 23 at the upstate New York track.

Approaching the turn, there were a few tense moments as it appeared Sovereignty was retreating when losing position to the advancing Baeza and deep closers Sandman and Hill Road, leaving Sovereignty in last for a few strides.

Alvarado said he never had a doubt that Sovereignty would come up with his expected run.

“It was everybody else moving and at that time I was just like, ‘Alright let me now kind of start picking it up,'” Alvarado said. “I had 100% confidence. I knew what I had underneath me.”

Baeza, third to Sovereignty in both the Derby and Belmont, finished second. Hill Road was another 9¼ lengths back in third. Mo Plex was fourth and Sandman fifth.

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Briscoe wins Brickyard 400 pole, his 5th of season

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Briscoe wins Brickyard 400 pole, his 5th of season

INDIANAPOLIS — Chase Briscoe became the first driver to win poles at NASCAR’s first three crown jewel races in one season Saturday, taking the Brickyard 400 pole with a fast lap of 183.165 mph.

His late run bumped Bubba Wallace out of the top starting spot.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has won nine career poles, five coming this season including those at the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600 and now the only race held in Briscoe’s home state. He’ll have a chance to complete a crown jewel sweep at the Southern 500 in late August.

Briscoe has the most pole wins this season, his latest coming on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s 2.5-mile oval. It also came on the same weekend his sister was married in Indiana. Briscoe has never won the Brickyard.

Wallace starts next to Briscoe on the front row after posting a lap of 183.117 mph. Those two also led a pack of five Toyotas to the front of the field — marking the first time the engine manufacturer has swept the top five spots.

Qualifying was held after a brief, rescheduled practice session. Friday’s practice was rained out.

Briscoe’s teammate, Ty Gibbs, has the early edge in the championship round of NASCAR’s first In-Season Challenge. He qualified fifth at 182.445. Ty Dillon starts 26th. The winner will be crowned champion and walk away with $1 million.

Last week’s race winner Denny Hamlin faces a major hurdle in winning his first Brickyard title. He crashed hard during qualifying and will start from the back of the field, 39th, as he tries to become the fifth driver to complete a career sweep of the Cup’s crown jewel races. The 44-year-old Hamlin signed a two-year contract extension with JGR on Friday.

Defending race winner Kyle Larson starts 13th.

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Building the perfect trade deadline for the Mets and Phillies

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Building the perfect trade deadline for the Mets and Phillies

There’s plenty of history in the rivalry between the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies. It’s about 116 miles from Citi Field to Citizens Bank Park. The two teams been competing for the NL East since 1969. Star players from Tug McGraw to Jerry Koosman to Lenny Dykstra to Pedro Martinez to Zack Wheeler have played for both franchises. Mets fans loathe the Phanatic, and Phillies fans laugh derisively at Mr. Met.

Despite this longevity, the two teams have rarely battled for a division title in the same season. The only years they finished No. 1 and 2 or were battling for a division lead late in the season:

  • 1986: Mets finished 21.5 games ahead

  • 2001: Both finished within six games of the Braves

  • 2006: Mets finished 12 games ahead

  • 2007: Phillies finished one game ahead

  • 2008: Phillies finished three games ahead

  • 2024: Phillies finished six games ahead of Mets and Braves

So it’s a rare treat to see the Mets and Phillies battling for the NL East lead in as New York faces the San Francisco Giants on “Sunday Night Baseball” this week. This season has also been a bit of bumpy ride for both teams, so there is pressure on both front offices to make trade deadline additions in hopes of winning the World Series that has eluded both franchises in recent years despite high payrolls and star-laden rosters. Let’s dig into what both teams need to do before Thursday.

The perfect trade deadline for the Mets

1. Bullpen help

The Mets already acquired hard-throwing lefty Gregory Soto from the Orioles, but David Stearns will likely look for another reliever, given that the Mets’ bullpen has struggled since the beginning of June with a 5.02 ERA. In my grade of the trade, I pointed out the importance for the Mets to add left-handed relief. Think of potential playoff opponents and all the key left-handed batters: Kyle Schwarber and Bryce Harper on the Phillies; Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman and Max Muncy on the Dodgers; Kyle Tucker, Michael Busch and Pete Crow-Armstrong on the Cubs.

Soto has held lefties to a .138 average this season, and it does help that the Mets have two lefty starters in David Peterson and Sean Manaea. They also just activated Brooks Raley after he had been out since early 2024. If he is back to his 2022-23 form, when he had a 2.74 ERA and held lefties to a .209 average, maybe the Mets will feel good enough about their southpaw relief.

They could still use another dependable righty reliever. Mets starters were hot early on, but they weren’t going deep into games, and outside of Peterson, the lack of longer outings is a big reason the bullpen ERA has skyrocketed. Carlos Mendoza has overworked his setup guys, including Huascar Brazoban and Reed Garrett. Brazoban has never been much of a strike thrower anyway, and Garrett similarly faded in the second half last season. Adding a high-leverage righty to set up Edwin Diaz makes sense. Candidates there include David Bednar of the Pirates, Ryan Helsley of the Cardinals, Griffin Jax or Jhoan Duran of the Twins, or maybe a longer shot such as Emmanuel Clase or Cade Smith of the Guardians.

2. Think big, as in Eugenio Suarez

Mark Vientos was a huge key to last season’s playoff appearance and trip to the NLCS, hitting .266/.322/.516 with 27 home runs after beginning the season in Triple-A. He hasn’t been able to replicate that performance, though, hitting .224/.279/.354. That has led to a revolving door at third base, with Vientos, Brett Baty and Ronny Mauricio starting games there in July. Overall, Mets third basemen ranked 24th in the majors in OPS entering Friday.

Lack of production at third is one reason the Mets’ offense has been mediocre rather than very good — they’re averaging 4.38 runs per game, just below the NL average of 4.43. They could use another premium bat, given the lack of production they’ve received from center field and catcher (not to mention Francisco Lindor‘s slump since the middle of June). Maybe Francisco Alvarez‘s short stint back in Triple-A will get his bat going now that he’s back in the majors, but going after Suarez to hit behind Juan Soto and Pete Alonso would lengthen the lineup.

3. Reacquire Harrison Bader to play CF

Tyrone Taylor is a plus defender in center and has made several incredible catches, but he’s hitting .209/.264/.306 for a lowly OPS+ of 65. Old friend Bader is having a nice season with the Twins, hitting .251/.330/.435. Maybe that’s a little over his head, given that he had a .657 OPS with the Mets last season, but he would still be an offensive upgrade over Taylor without losing anything on defense — and he wouldn’t cost a top-tier prospect. The Mets could still mix in Jeff McNeil against the really tough righties, but adding Suarez and Bader would give this lineup more of a championship feel.

The perfect deadline for the Phillies

1. Acquire Jhoan Duran

Like the Mets, the Phillies already made a move here, signing free agent David Robertson, who had a 3.00 ERA and 99 strikeouts in 72 innings last season with the Rangers. On paper, he should help, but he’s also 40 and will need a few games in the minors to get ready. Even with Robertson, the Phillies could use some more help here. They’ll eventually get Jose Alvarado back from his 60-game PED suspension, but Alvarado is ineligible for the postseason. At least the Mets have an elite closer in Edwin Diaz. Jordan Romano leads the Phillies with eight saves and has a 6.69 ERA. Matt Strahm is solid, but more useful as a lefty setup guy than a closer (think of all those left-handed batters we listed for the Mets, then sub out Juan Soto and Brandon Nimmo for Harper and Schwarber).

And the Phillies’ bullpen has consistently come up short in big games. Think back to last year’s NLDS, when Jeff Hoffman lost twice to the Mets. Or 2023, when Craig Kimbrel lost two games in the NLCS against the Diamondbacks. Or the 2022 World Series, when Yordan Alvarez hit the huge home run off Alvarado in the clinching Game 6.

So, yes, a shutdown closer is a must. Maybe that’s Bednar, maybe Clase if he’s available (although he struggled in last year’s postseason), maybe Helsley. But the guy Dave Dombrowski should go all-in to get: Duran. The window for the Phillies is slowly closing as the core players get older. Duran is under control through 2027, so he’s a fit for now and the immediate future. The trade cost might be painful, but with his 100 mph fastball and splitter, he has the elite stuff you need in October.

2. Add Ryan O’Hearn

The Phillies have received below-average production from both left field (mostly Max Kepler) and center field (Brandon Marsh/Johan Rojas platoon). The center-field market is pretty thin except for Bader or maybe a gamble on Luis Robert Jr. I’d pass on Robert, stick with the Marsh/Rojas platoon and upgrade left field with O’Hearn, who is hitting .281/.375/.452 for the Orioles. He isn’t the perfect fit since, like Kepler, he hits left-handed and struggles against lefties, but he’s a patient hitter with a much better OBP, and he’s passable in the outfield.

3. Acquire Willi Castro

Here’s the bottom line: The Phillies have to admit that some of their long-term position players aren’t getting the job done — such as second baseman Bryson Stott, who has a 77 OPS+. Third baseman Alec Bohm has been better but also has a below-average OPS.

That makes Castro a nice fit. He’s not a star, but he’s an above-average hitter, a switch-hitter who plays all over the field for the Twins, having started games at five different positions. He could play second or third or start in left field against a lefty. Philadelphia could even start him in center instead of Rojas, although that would be a defensive hit. Bottom line: Castro would give the Phillies a lot more versatility — or a significant offensive upgrade over Stott if they start him every day at second.

Note as well: Stott has hit .188 in 33 career postseason games. Bohm has hit .214 with two home runs in 34 postseason games. The Phillies need a different offensive look for October.

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