Quoting: BurgerBoss
I don't agree with Benning being worth more than Eric Staal, but based on the returns it seems to be the case in this AGM. Imo Staal costs 2nd and a prospect (Marody for example, MIN needs a right handed C) and Benning might get you a 3rd. Russell maybe a 4th. The value you've put to your assets whether it comes to trading or signing is quite optimistic, but not necessarily unrealistic.
On another post a respected MN fan posted that he'd be happy with a 2nd in return, another suggested a 2nd + an "OK prospect", so something in the range between your suggestion and mine is probably about right.
Benning is a bit of a controversial figure on this forum. His on-ice results are consistently excellent - even playing in the
top-4 - yet he gets no respect here and people treat him like he's worth nothing. Its hard to translate a players value into draft picks, but Benning is a full-time NHLer at an important position and a 3rd round pick has only a
12% chance of having a career like he has. Also, if you if you did a re-draft his
draft year, he'd probably get picked in the 35-40 range, making me think a mid-2nd rounder is a reasonable return - especially since there's far more risk in the pick.
I would have taken Ottawa's 2021 4th for Russell but they don't have one, they sent it to NYR in the Namestnikov deal. But yeah, that's about right.