FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — You get a raise! You get a raise! And you get a raise! Ah, what the heck? A pay bump for you too!

Success comes at a price.

Four key contributors to the Cats’ Stanley Cup bid are set to become unrestricted free agents in 20 days. Each of those players has built a strong case for a pay hike, and GM Bill Zito has just $19 million to fill seven slots on his 2025-26 roster. 

Something’s gotta give.

And Zito is prepared to lose talent. Hey, valuable pieces Brandon Montour, Anthony Stolarz and Oliver Ekman-Larsson were all finding new employment last July 1 before their Cup parade hangovers had a chance to clear.

Let’s dig into the next crop of pending Panthers UFAs who will face the difficult decision of reupping with this powerhouse or maximizing their AAVs elsewhere.

The sense is that the playoffs’ leading goal scorer would prefer to stay put, and Zito no doubt would like to re-sign the most valuable centreman charging toward the open market.

But Bennett’s agent, Darren Ferris (who also reps Mitch Marner, the most coveted UFA winger), advises his star clients to test the waters and see what offers are out there.

No player has upped his market value more than the Conn Smythe candidate. 

“He’s been incredible. He’s scoring goals, but he’s doing so much more other stuff,” raves captain Aleksander Barkov. “He’s carrying the puck in the neutral zone. He’s making plays. He’s defending well. He’s just unreal right now.”

So unreal, whispers have big-game Bennett making as much as $10 million per season if he goes to the highest bidder. He won’t fetch that in Florida, where forwards are asked to fall under Barkov’s eight-figure contract.

Bennett says negotiations have “taken a back seat” over the past couple months, and as was the case last year with Sam Reinhart, who took less to stay put, this one comes down to a simple/difficult question: How do you weigh happiness and money?

“I haven’t thought too much about anything other than the playoffs,” says Bennett, who loves playing for Paul Maurice. 

“He’s certainly the best coach I’ve ever had.”

Why has Bennett thrived under the pressure of a contract year? 

Maurice figures that players whose game is driven solely by production may have a higher susceptibility to failure. 

“This is just a theory. But we pay these guys on goals and assists,” Maurice says. “So if you go out — especially with our team — and that’s your focus, you’re not going to have very much success. You’re going to put yourself in a position where you struggle. Confidence becomes this critical thing, right? It’s going for me, or it’s not. 

“Sam got out of the gate hot. Maybe that was a good thing for him. But if it’s your contract here, and you get to 15, 20 games, and you got bagels, that can affect you. So, none of those three men hit the ice with that as their primary goal, right? They are structured. They play within the system. They play really hard. Which would give you a better opportunity then to generate offence.”

Ekblad, 29, had been Florida’s top right-shot defenceman almost since the club drafted him first overall in 2014, but the $60 million contract he signed in 2016 is almost over.

Ekblad has envisioned a future where he leaves — and the edgy, all-situations minutes muncher could surely get a raise on the open market — but he’d rather stay put.

“We’ll see how it plays out,” Ekblad says. “Everyone knows where I stand. Listen, this team… I live and breathe for the Florida Panthers. I bleed for the Florida Panthers. I have given my body and everything to this team. I want to keep doing it forever. For as long as they let me come to the rink.”

Ekblad’s rocky 2024-25 featured two suspensions, including a 20-game ban for PED use. Like Bennett, though, he saved his best hockey for the most important time, putting up a career-high four goals and 12 points in the post-season.

“It has been a bit of a roller coaster for myself,” Ekblad says. “You’re playing for your life, in a sense, right? It has been a fun experience playing in a contract year, and I am happy with the way things have gone.”

Even happier if the career-long Panther can sip from another Cup.

“I truly believe that after you win one, you want it that much more — and that’s the attitude all the returning players have,” he says. 

“The amount of fun and the excitement you get from it is incredible and makes you want it that much more. That’s where I pull my energy from.”

Prior to dealing Marchand to Florida, the Bruins were prepared to extend the winger at no less than his current $6.125-million AAV, but the veteran has been underpaid for years, and his stellar showing this spring assures he’ll get a raise.

How does $8 million for three years sound?

Yes, Marchand’s fit in Florida has been fantastic, as he has energized the best third line in hockey. But much like the Cats’ rental of long-serving Flyers captain Claude Giroux in ’22, this situation feels like a one-and-done.

Marchand’s price will be nearly impossible to meet once Zito takes a run at re-signing Bennett.

“It’s kind of out of our control,” Reinhart says.

Of course, Marchand has considered options for his next stop, but he’s pushing those ideas aside during the Final.

“The longest you can go is two weeks, so you’re in the moment that entire time. You can’t have your mind in any other place other than right here and now,” Marchand says. “You have to enjoy these moments. They don’t come often. There’s no other thought in my mind right now.”

OK. But has he considered re-upping in Florida?

“I mean, yeah, I’ve thought about it. But we’ll deal with that in the future.”

So, the Jets bought this out, eh?

Signed off the scrapheap for a tidy $800,000, Schmidt has sort of turned himself into this season’s version of Ekman-Larsson — a rejuvenated left shot, properly slotted and possibly pricing himself out after the Cup is presented.

The 33-year-old only managed 19 points in 80 regular-season games but has already put up a dozen in 20 playoff games.

Schmidt is tied with Connor McDavid for the Cup Final lead in assists (five).

“I’m so happy for him,” Maurice says. 

“He’s not 23 anymore, and he wanted to get his game back. That was the whole point. He felt he was a better player than he was playing, and he took full responsibility for that. There was no blame to anybody else. He just thought he had more to give, and it took him probably three or four months to get used to the way that we play. Since that time, he’s been incredibly effective. 

“He’s getting up the ice, and he looks like he did when he was a kid when he first came into the league in Washington. He was dynamic with the way he’d get up the ice. And then coaches beat that out of you and take the fun out of the game for you — but it looks like he’s found his fun again.”

Also looks like Schmidt is anything but an $800,000 player.