Sam Bennett may have been the most notable snub from Team Canada’s Olympic hockey roster.
Turns out, the Florida Panthers star will be playing in the Olympics anyway.
Bennett was added to the roster as an injury replacement on Tuesday. The Lightning’s Anthony Cirelli was hurt in the Stadium Series game on Sunday and will have to miss the tournament.
Bennett was just injured, too, but TSN’s Darren Dreger says it was “nothing serious.” The news of Bennett as a replacement for Cirelli, and no announcement about the Panthers’ injured Brad Marchand, may be a good sign for Marchand’s chances of also suiting up at the Olympics.
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Cirelli, as a faceoff guy and penalty-killing type, had a very specific role for the Canadian team. Bennett fits that pretty well, and he does bring a type of grit that Cirelli also has.
Bennett is a winner. He has been a part of back-to-back Stanley Cup championships with the Panthers. He was also on Canada’s victorious 4 Nations Faceoff team.
At 29 years old, this may have been Bennett’s best chance of making an Olympic team.
This season in 55 games with the Panthers, Bennett has 19 goals, 23 assists and 101 blocks shots.
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Team Canada squeezed Bennett off the initial roster because it decided to keep both Bo Horvat and Nick Suzuki on the initial roster.
Hopefully, Bennett didn’t make any plans for the Olympic break. Because after it was in doubt, he has some hockey to be played and a gold medal to chase.
