I would trade Backlund before I trade Monahan. Better return, and Monny is still young enough to bounce back from his injuries. Backlund is a 33 year-oid defensive third-line center making $5.3M for two more seasons. Monahan will be 28 in Oct and only makes $1.2M more than Backlund (and only has one year left).
Monny is a two-time 30-goal scorer who scored at least 20 goals every single season he played until his hips gave out. There's a chance Monahan bounces back from his injuries and becomes the offensive second-line center this team desperately needs. Backlund isn't bouncing back from anything; we already know what he his. There's no offensive second-line center in him even though we're paying him like there is.
We have two over-priced centers, and between them only one has the potential to be a top-six player - and the other is the only one with current trading value.
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