love to pay the price for a guy who has never had 50 points ever and only broken 30 twice in 8 seasons

The panthers dont want those pieces. Robertson is not a need in this team and a late first isn’t gonna get him. I get kerfoot for cap reasons but he has zero value. So the only valuable piece is the late first.

Have to think that the Panthers don't want to trade within their division

it's weird that the title of the post is about paying the price for Bennett and then you don't - he's averaged 29 goals and 61 points per 82 GP since getting out of Calgary and onto the Panthers, and is signed for two more years at $4.425M. The most similar trade in recent memory I can think of for a guy with that kind of production/term combo was Calgary trading for Tyler Toffoli - the Flames gave up an arguably better (or at least less injury-prone) prospect in Emil Heineman, they had the 1st and aa pair of mid-round picks, and they sent back less cap. And that's for Toffoli, a guy who was 3 years older than Bennett and played the wing, not center - so by all metrics, a less valuable player. Toronto would probably need to include Matthew Knies in this deal if they wanted any hope of it happening.

I doubt Florida would even go close to this trade but this is the most the Leafs can afford

I wouldn't have thought of Toffoli as a comparison. The only thing I'd say is that Toffoli had 28 goals in 52 games the year before he was traded and Bennet also had 28 goals but in 71 games. Now Bennet is more physical than Toffoli so there is that but Toffoli has more of a track record producing in LA. Bennet has really only been at this level in Florida. I'd say it's a comparable but that Bennet has less value for the reasons stated above.

I doubt the leafs are paying anything significant for a guy with one good season

saying he averaged 29 goals and 61 points over his time in florida is a bit misleading, he has 10 games, then a 72 game season and 42 games. He's basically had one good goalscoring season after a 10 game hot streak where he was on a shooting bender and then this current season where he's on pace for less than 18 goals

it's still a 124 game sample - enough to draw some meaningful conclusions from. Also, if you're going to talk about the 10 game stretch being a "shooting bender" (he shot 15.4% after joining the Panthers), you should also point out that he's on a shooting cold streak this year - he's only scoring on 7.1% of his shots. Even when he was a 30-35 point guy in Calgary, he was shooting 10%, so you'd have to think there's some positive regression coming.

It was tough to find a comp in general (not a ton of useful players getting traded with decent contracts, I wonder why??) but I think there's enough there to make a decent comparison. Toffoli had almost identical term left when he was traded (3x$4.25M vs. 3x$4.425M), and his 28 goal season came with a hefty 17.7% shooting percentage - I'm sure GMs took note of that spike when valuing him. I can't disagree that Toffoli's track record was stronger than Bennett's, but I do think that the fact that Bennett is younger (26 vs. Toffoli being 29 at the time of his trade) and plays center vs. Toffoli being strictly a winger brings the value closer to neutral. But again, tough to find a recent comparison for a potential Bennett trade.

I agree that the proposed package might not be that enticing but Knies for Bennett even one for one wouldn't happen

a 124 game sample size in a 525 game career, and he's still only averaging 25ish goals per 82 over that sample size. Like he had 34 goals in his first 'season' of 81 games in florida which accounts for just under 1/3rd of his career scoring.

Hard nosed? On the Florida team he gets points on the PP, which he wouldn't get with the Leafs. Just an average player (or worse) at even strength.

The problem is that Toronto doesn't have many premium assets - the '23 1st isn't going to be super attractive to a team like Florida, seeing as they're locked into a handful of big veteran contracts and a guy picked around #20-25 is unlikely to be someone who makes an immediate impact on their roster. Nick Robertson is injured - again - so I don't know how valuable a prospect teams are going to see him as. Everyone further down the Leafs' prospect list is either a few years away (Minten, Hirvonen) or projects as more of a role player (Steeves, SDA, etc.) Knies looks close to NHL-ready and looks like he can be an impact player - he's probably the only pick or prospect that would help Florida while they're still working with their current core. Seeing as Bennett is a legit 2C who has scored at a 60 point pace in Florida, and seeing as how they're a division rival that will have to deal with the consequences of this trade for two more years, I can't see Florida asking for anything less.

Adding on here, Florida is trying to at least compete this season with Montreal having their 1rst. On a side note, I am so glad I picked Bennet and Verhaghe in fantasy in like the 16/17th round

I hate interacting with you but do you just make **** up.

Bennett has 17 points at 5 on 5 (4G 13A) and only 7 points at 5 on 4 (3G 4A) and has the 6th least mins at 5 on 4 after Tkachuk, Barkov, Reinhart, Montour, and Ekblad.

Dude plays on the 2nd unit, which IF acquired he would be on the Leafs.

In 2021 Bennett had 9 points at 5 on 4 and 32 points on 5 on 5
In 2020 Bennett had 3 points at 5 on 4 and 22 points at 5 on 5

Yea if Dubas pays that for Bennet he should be fired on the spot. Definetly an upgrade on kerfoot, but not enough to justify giving away a great young player along with a 1st and a 3rd