The Florida Panthers can't afford to be outbid for Sam Bennett

All anyone has talked about for the vast majority of the postseason is how every goal Sam Bennett has scored added $250,000 to the AAV on the contract he will sign sometime in the next few weeks.

And as his playoff-leading total ballooned — now up to 14 in 21 games — so too did the talk that his cap hit would reach eight figures.

Yup, $10 million or more for a guy whose career boasts just three 20-goal seasons, who has more playoff goals this spring than in the previous four combined, who got outscored 44-50 at full strength in the regular season and is only a career plus-1 in 5-on-5 scoring overall. "The cap is going up," etc., but it would be hard to argue he's going to deliver on the full value of just about any deal he signs if his cap number is anywhere near that big and the term is wit