It’s not too often you see a floundering team trade a 20-year-old first-round draft pick for veteran help, but that’s exactly what Jim Benning did on May 25th, 2016.
After a rookie season with mixed results in 2015-16, Benning shipped Jared McCann, along with a second and a fourth round pick to the Florida Panthers for Erik Gudbranson.
If you google the trade now, two of the first articles that pop up call the trade a ‘head-scratcher’ and ‘lopsided.’
Those guys weren’t patting Benning on the back for a job well done.