A trade partner emerges for the Toronto Maple Leafs and defenseman Matt Benning

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Graham Montgomery
November 4, 2024 (0:44)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs could be on the verge of trading defenseman Matt Benning just days after acquiring him from the San Jose Sharks.

The Leafs acquired Benning as well as two draft picks from the San Jose Sharks just five days ago in exchange for their own blueliner, Timothy Liljegren. However, it appears as though Benning is not actually part of the long-term plan in Toronto. Just a couple of days later, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman reported that is is 'very possible' the Leafs trade Benning again.

Benning has a 1.25 million dollar cap hit that the Leafs are reportedly trying to get rid of. It would make sense because Liljegren only played a single game for Toronto this year. With Benning replacing him, one would have to imagine that he would now be the one sitting in the press box every night. According to NHL rumor monger Eklund of HockeyBuzz, the New York Islanders have expressed interest in the veteran blueliner.

"The Leafs picked up Matt Benning in a trade last week, but are already desperate to move his cap space out as well as they continue to get healthier.... Benning is actually a decent player caught in the cap space shuffle and word is the Islanders (who have cap space from Barzal being on LTIR) are in need of some health on D"

Friedman also revealed that the Leafs have told teams that Benning is available, so it makes sense that we would start to hear rumors about teams being interested. It does such for Benning though, who has just been forced to uproot his entire life and will now likely do the same thing in just a few weeks if not much sooner than that.

Benning, 30, has appeared in 464 career regular-season NHL games and has 17 goals and 102 points to his name. This season he has appeared in 7 games for the Sharks without recording a point. He has not looked great but he is still getting used to the NHL pace again after recovering from major surgery that kept him out most of last season. Hopefully, he will regain his form wherever he ends up for the remainder of the season.