Sanheim isn't a shutdown defencemen, he's a very good two-way guy. There's no comparison between him and OEL. If you acquire him now he's paid significantly less, is two years younger, and is coming off an excellent bounce-back season where he was an all-situations number one defender on a cobbled together team playing above their heads. Benning paid a massive cost for a hugely distressed asset on an expensive long-term contract. I'd propose acquiring Sanheim with Johansen for a fairly minimal cost (Hoglander or Podkolzin).
That said, Sanheim wouldn't be my primary target.
The OEL comp is that you are paying a premium acquisition cost plus having a big cap hit to a 2nd pair defender that wont be used in PP situations and hasn't really shown to be a top end shut down defender.
It restricts what you can do elsewhere on the roster also but not that big a deal if he's truly the leader and shut down defender to anchor a 22-23 minutes 2nd pair. I'm not so sure he plays that way but he certainly has the capabilities and is intriguing if he was ever even available now after they almost made that horrendous Krug trade
At 28 OEL was not far off Sanheim. Injuries derailed him and he lost a step. People forget what he was before the 2yrs leading up to our mark of a manager paid for that contract and a declined and further declining name player that didnt want to get stuck in much anymore
Flyers will want our 1st plus Pod/Hog plus more and then we have to work around his 6.25 cap hit next year which i have no idea how we pull off without letting Boeser walk. It's doable with a decent cap increase though.
I think were on the same page as our biggest need is a top3 left side defender probably with Myers and Desharnais locked for 2yrs and Willander McWard in the pipeline as well as 2 useful btm pair subs in Friedman and Juulsen. It's not ideal and asking a lot of Myers but it seems to have more proven and more on the cusp sooner
The left side is asking too much from Soucy and Forbort to begin with as both have had troubles staying healthy and being reliable and beyond that Pettersson is 2 yrs away at minimum and Brisebois Wolanin Hirose are even further down the pecking order than NJ and MF.