Why Panthers’ Sam Bennett deserved the 2025 Conn Smythe

The 2025 Stanley Cup Final is in the books with the Florida Panthers prevailing in six games over the Edmonton Oilers, and Panthers center Sam Bennett took home the Conn Smythe Trophy as the MVP of the playoffs after the decisive win.

Bennett, who is slated to be an unrestricted free agent on July 1, led the playoffs in goals with 15, but the vote among PHWA members was a tight one, as Bennett earned 11 of the 18 first-place votes with teammate Brad Marchand nabbing the other seven.

On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, host Tyler Yaremchuk and Insider and President of Hockey Content Frank Seravalli discussed what it was that tipped the scales in Bennett’s favor.

Tyler Yaremchuk: Let’s talk a little Conn Smythe. Sam Bennett with his 15-goal postseason. Since the year 2000, only one player has scored more goals than that in the playoffs; it was Zach Hyman last year. Only Sid and Ovi have gotten to 15, it’s a very exclusive club with just the four guys, but it just shows how dominant Sam Bennett was at points here. The Conn Smythe voting was very, very close, though. 76 points to Sam Bennett, 68 to Brad Marchand. You had Bennett at number one though.

Frank Seravalli: Yeah, I wrestled with it for awhile. I think what I ultimately came down to was Sam Bennett played more minutes. Sam Bennett had a more consistent run from start to finish. He was the Florida Panthers’, I guess you could say spark plug. He scored in each of the first games of all four rounds. He scored [a point] in five of the six games in this Cup Final. Last night, Game 6, was the only exception. I don’t think you could have gone wrong with either guy, and Marchand scored some incredibly clutch goals that really were just backbreakers for the Edmonton Oilers particularly in the Cup Final, but I felt like Bennett’s more complete overall total effort in the entire playoffs is what gave him the edge on my ballot.

You can watch the full segment and the rest of the episode here…