The beautiful thing about the Miller deal was that the conditional 1st gave us a one year buffer top sort things out if it went wrong this year. Miller was also signed long term at a reasonable cap hit. It was a move for now, but also a move for the future, and I'll defend it every single time.
This trade didn't come with the same type of assurances. Not even close. As far as Miller goes, if we fail to make the playoffs this year, the pick falls to next year, and even if we fail to make the playoffs the year after and lose a high pick, we still have Miller signed for two more years. We still have the asset.
Right from the get-go the Toffoli deal was a huge risk, and was pretty much completely dependent on the idea that we would be able to sell Toffoli on the idea of signing in Vancouver after this season wrapped up. If we miss the playoffs, which is a huge possibility with our ace goalie out, Toffoli has much less initiative to resign, and we end up with nothing for our troubles.
You can say that whether or not I agree that this was the course is irrelevant, but that doesn't mean for a second that it should be free from criticism and it doesn't mean for a second that, if all goes bad, it shouldn't be a stain on Benning's record as a GM.