What to do with Matt Benning?
Going into the off season Matt Benning is an RFA. If i were old Ken Holland I would be doing everything in my power to sign Benning for 3 years for 1.5 million dollars. But with the Oilers going into cap hell and having less than 10 million dollars in cap space this might not be the best time to be a guy like Matt Benning. So there’s two options: let Benning gamble on himself and see if he's a team player, sign him for one year for 950k for one year and let him prove that he's worth the extra money in the future. The other option is to trade him. The easy trade is to send Benning to Ottawa for a 2nd round pick. Benning is a cheaper player who is young and highly effective as a third pairing Defenseman; which is what Ottawa needs Benning also has the potential to be a 2nd pairing defenseman. With their owner being as cheap as he is they want super value deals and Benning would fit into Ottawa's locker room because that core is so young. Edmonton needs to recoup some draft picks after they were traded for Athanasiou at the trade deadline. .
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