Michael Benning

The Panthers announced today that they’ve recalled defenseman Mike Benning from AHL Charlotte. They have ample cap space to make the recall and, with only six defensemen on the active roster and Uvis Balinskis listed as questionable with an undisclosed injury, Benning will likely be making his NHL debut tonight against the Blue Jackets, per George Richards of Florida Hockey Now.

Benning, a 2020 fourth-round pick, was once one of the top prospects in a weak Florida pool. While he was technically on the Cats’ roster to close out the 2022-23 campaign after turning pro out of the University of Denver, serving as a Black Ace on their first of three straight trips to the Stanley Cup Final, he never played. He was sent down to Charlotte in camp the following fall, and he’s remained there ever since.

Slowly but surely, the undersized righty has been improving his two-way game in the minors. Coming in at just 5’9″ and 176 lbs, the 2022 NCAA championship winner would need to simply be offensively dominant to warrant an extended look at the NHL level. That hasn’t happened, at least from the jump. After recording 72 points and a raucous +56 rating in 80 games across his sophomore and junior seasons at Denver, Benning had just nine goals and 26 points in a full 72 games as a first-year pro for Charlotte in 2023-24.

Over the past two years, his points per game have begun to spike. He bumped his production from 0.36 that first year in Charlotte to 0.59 last year, although it’s flattened out somewhat again at 0.55 here in 2025-26. He has made 56 AHL appearances this season, posting an 8-23–31 scoring line with 40 penalty minutes and a +10 rating. That’s still good for the team lead in scoring among defensemen – by a significant margin, too, with Trevor Carrick‘s 18 points in 45 games coming in second.

Now 24, Benning was always viewed as a power-play specialist if he made it to the highest level. With Seth Jones still out of the lineup, Balinskis had actually been quarterbacking Florida’s second unit, so there’s a strong chance Benning steps in there tonight while directly replacing Balinskis on Niko Mikkola‘s right side on their second pairing at even strength.

This is Benning’s last waiver-exempt season. At the end of the year, he will have accrued three professional seasons and will require waivers to be assigned to Charlotte during training camp in the fall if he doesn’t make the roster. Before that even becomes a consideration, he’ll need to sign a new contract. He’s on a two-way deal with a $150K guarantee, which he agreed to after being a restricted free agent for a month and a half last year following the expiration of his entry-level contract. This time around, he’s arbitration-eligible, so Florida has some incentive to get a new agreement done quicker – assuming they qualify him at all. The Cats control him for another three years.

The Panthers have signed RFA defenseman Mike Benning, according to a team release. The deal is a two-way pact, although financial terms weren’t disclosed.

Benning remains in the Florida organization after spending his first two professional seasons with the AHL’s Charlotte Checkers while he played out his entry-level contract. While he missed nearly 20 games last season due to injury, he upped his offensive production to 23 assists and 32 points in 54 games after posting 26 points in 72 games in his rookie season for Charlotte. That wasn’t enough to get him an NHL call-up, though, and he became an RFA this summer without a top-level game to his name.

As a 10.2(c) player with fewer than three years of professional experience, Benning was ineligible to sign an offer sheet or to request an arbitration hearing upon receiving a qualifying offer in June. He was locked into a new deal with the Panthers as a result, one that presumably includes a raise over the $80K minors salary dictated by his ELC and maintains his waiver-exempt status for one more season.

A fourth-round pick by the Cats in 2020, Benning always faced an uphill battle for NHL minutes because of his 5’9″, 176-lb frame. Despite that, he was a dominant two-way threat in college at the University of Denver. His standout sophomore season in 2021-22 saw him record a 15-23–38 scoring line with a +32 rating in 41 appearances. Not only did he help the Pioneers to an NCAA championship, but he was also named the MVP of the national tournament. He recorded 34 points in 39 games the following season to be named the NCHC’s best offensive defenseman before turning pro with the Panthers in 2023.

Because of his underwhelming frame, he’ll need to become an undeniable offensive force at the minor-league level to sniff an NHL role. While he’s steadily improved since making his pro debut, that hasn’t quite happened yet. Today’s deal gives him another year of runway and ideally at least one call-up opportunity to prove he could at least be effective as a power-play specialist.

The Panthers have now filled 45 of their 50 contract slots for 2025-26. They have no other unsigned RFAs remaining, at least among players who haven’t already agreed to contracts overseas.