{"id":151090,"date":"2025-09-18T02:23:21","date_gmt":"2025-09-18T02:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/151090\/"},"modified":"2025-09-18T02:23:21","modified_gmt":"2025-09-18T02:23:21","slug":"nhl-news-conn-smythe-winner-sam-bennett-issues-tough-love-message-to-key-panthers-teammate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/151090\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL News: Conn Smythe winner Sam Bennett issues tough-love message to key Panthers teammate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Bennett<\/a> has never been one to mince words\u2014or actions\u2014in the NHL. Often at the center of the storm, the Florida Panthers\u2019 forward has always stayed true to himself, for better or worse. Now, the reigning Conn Smythe Trophy winner<\/a> has delivered a blunt message to a teammate in Sunrise.<\/p>\n

Mackie Samoskevich is expected to take a big jump during the 2025-26 NHL<\/a> season. The former first round pick in 2021 played a big role last season but was mostly healthy scratched in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Now, the 22-year-old is determined to prove he belongs on the Panthers<\/a>\u2018 lineup no matter the stakes.<\/p>\n

Bennett knows just how productive Samoskevich can be on the ice, as the two were linemates through many stretches of the past campaign. However, the young talent is still a bit wet behind the ears, and the experienced centerman issued an honest comment about him.<\/p>\n

\u201cMackie looks really good right now,\u201d Sam Bennett said during the Panthers\u2019 media day ahead of training camp\u2019s start. \u201cOnce he realizes how good he can be, it\u2019s gonna make him that much better of a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Mackie<\/p>\n

Mackie Samoskevich #25 of the Florida Panthers at Nationwide Arena in Columbus.<\/p>\n

New number, who this?<\/p>\n

In a shocking turn of events, Samoskevich will don a new jersey number for the 2025-26 NHL season. Number changes are nothing unusual in the league, so that alone wasn\u2019t the surprise in Florida. What caught everyone off guard was Samoskevich\u2019s decision to take the vacant No. 11 sweater.<\/p>\n

\"NHL<\/p>\n

see also<\/p>\n

NHL News: Brad Marchand puts Bruins on blast with honest admission about future with Panthers<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Jonathan Huberdeau was the last Panther to wear the number, and it had remained vacant since the Cats shipped him to Calgary for Matthew Tkachuk in the biggest trade of the decade. <\/p>\n

Doing it justice<\/p>\n

Many in Sunrise believed the jersey might eventually be retired by the franchise, but Mackie putting it on almost certainly means it won\u2019t be heading into the rafters\u2014at least not with Huberdeau\u2019s name on the back.<\/p>\n

SurveyWho will be the Panthers’ leading goal scorer next season?<\/p>\n

Who will be the Panthers’ leading goal scorer next season?<\/p>\n

While fans were taken aback with the jersey change, the players seem to have no problem whatsoever with Samoskevich\u2019s decision. Captain Aleksander Barkov, who was very close with Huberdeau, even spoke on the topic himself with a special remark. \u201cMust be the number,\u201d Barkov said when talking about Samoskevich\u2019s growth and how he looked on the ice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Bennett has never been one to mince words\u2014or actions\u2014in the NHL. Often at the center of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":151091,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[556],"tags":[64,63,3274,575,4786,85],"class_list":["post-151090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-florida-panthers","tag-nhl","tag-sam-bennett","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=151090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/151090\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/151091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=151090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=151090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=151090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}