NHL insider John Shannon believes that Sam Bennett will only consider signing with either the Florida Panthers or the Toronto Maple Leafs this offseason.

During an appearance on Sekeres and Price with Matthew Sekeres and Blake Price on Monday, Shannon was asked about the possibility of Bennett making his way to the Vancouver Canucks. Shannon said he expects the 28-year-old forward will not be moving to British Columbia as his decision will boil down to the two aforementioned teams.

“Don’t waste your time. He’s gonna play in one of two places,” he said.  “He’s gonna play in Toronto or he’s gonna play in Sunrise, Florida. That’s it, that’s his decision. He’s not going to market the way other free agents go to market.  He will go and play for the Panthers or the Maple Leafs. We just don’t know which one yet.”

It certainly makes sense why the Leafs may be interested in acquiring Bennett’s services given his familiarity with Brad Treliving, playing for his hometown team, and filling a role needed in being a top-six forward. He also has the jam and ample experience in the Stanley Cup playoffs, including reaching the summit last spring, so he would provide a different element to the lineup that the Leafs would value.

The team being interested is one thing but the idea that the feeling is mutual makes the idea of this becoming a reality more plausible. Of course, there’s no telling at the time of filing which direction Bennett will go in terms of where he will sign this offseason, but it appears that the Leafs may be one of the finalists that he is considering.

It is worth noting that TSN’s Darren Dreger told Leafs Morning Take on Friday that he was skeptical of the chances that the Leafs could acquire Bennett’s services due to how much in demand he would be if he made it to July 1st. Before the start of the offseason, the Panthers have $19 million in cap space available, so there is certainly plenty of room for Florida to retain him and prevent Bennett from becoming a free agent.

He would also come with plenty of baggage due to his recent history with the Leafs in terms of controversial moments. The most notable were him heavily shoving Matthew Knies to the ice in 2023 and elbowing Anthony Stolarz in the back of the head during Game 1 this year, both of which resulted in the Leafs players suffering a concussion.

Despite all of that, there are still plenty of Leafs fans who would love to see Bennett don the Blue and White as he revealed last summer on First Up.

“It is funny though because I’m actually here all summer, I walk by and fans see me all the time. They actually always have something to say: they hate me, but they always end with ‘I want you to be a Leaf one day!'” he said on August 27th. “I think there’s definitely a lot of people who don’t like the way I play. That’s a saying, I think it goes for a lot of guys on our team, actually. It’s part of what it makes us successful, we have so many guys who are willing to do whatever it takes to win.”