Brad Treliving and the Maple Leafs Must Find A Way To Lure In Stanley Cup Champion
With questions surrounding both Toronto's trade deadline strategy and the future of Mitch Marner -- the team should switch gears and focus on Sam Bennett instead.
With the Maple Leafs linked to every name under the sun including Dylan Cozens and Brayden Schenn, there's no doubt that at least one big name is going to find themselves walking into the locker room either ahead of or on March 7.
But also with the talk of whether or not to keep Mitch Marner, and how that will play into the team's trade plans; what if they decided to change gears altogether? Enter Sam Bennett.
The Florida Panthers star would fit perfectly with Craig Berube -- but is he worth picking over Marner or Tavares?
Let's take a look.
Sam Bennett A Great Replacement...For John Tavares
Look, nothing against either Bennett or Tavares, but Marner is something special so Bennett isn't replacing him. Bennett however, would make sense as a target if they want to move on from John Tavares -- unlikely but still possible.
The great part is that at least Bennett will be somewhat affordable when the salary cap begins its historic ascent.
He makes $4.425M for this season and is definitely going to get an upgraded payday however he's not going to cost Marner levels of money, so that's one tick that's positive in the 'sign him' camp.
I would argue he'll get roughly $7.5M for the next deal, and with that being in line and potentially slightly cheaper than grabbing Tavares -- and getting a bit younger -- is a really good bargain.
He doesn't offer the same level of playmaking as Tavares however replaces it with the grit and toughness Craig Berube loves. Plus, grabbing a player six years younger at roughly the same cost is a pretty good swap.
This season, Bennett has 35 points (18 goals, 17 assists) in 55 games for the Florida Panthers, but also offers 119 hits, a 47.1% Faceoff win percentage and doesn't mind getting into the tougher parts of the game -- and loves a fight.
He plays both the power play and penalty kill, has playoff experience and is a proven performer with 14 points in 19 games last year to help Florida win the Stanley Cup.
Marner's contract is a whole different beast, and Toronto has a lot to handle in terms of that whole situation (Brandon Pridham deserves a raise).
But if they wanted a younger alternative to John Tavares -- then the team should focus on bringing Sam Bennett on board.
