Quoting: rja40
If you flip Schenn to Carolina, you have to get at least one roster player along with a 1st. He's a valuable commodity to whatever team has him, which makes him have more value than two picks. Gauthier and a 1st would do; however, that brings in one more RWer. We are already deep in prospects on RW, but Carolina doesn't have a LWer they'd move that I'd want. A team like Calgary would be perfect for him. If we could get Valimaki for him, you do it. If they balk at Valimaki, you move on and tell them a conference rival will have to pay.
The idea is that the Blues are getting a roster player back, in the sense that they free up enough cap room to make a run at a guy like Skinner (or if they don't want to do a big contract, maybe Nyquist who seems like a VERY typical GMDA-style UFA). I seriously doubt Carolina is sending a 1st AND a premium prospect like Gauthier in exchange for 1 year of Schenn. I'd do Valimaki in a heartbeat but there is zero chance Calgary bites on that. You've got to be cognizant of what Schenn is going to bring in return with only 1 year left on his contract.
Quoting: BeastModeUnknown
Schenn plays left wing, but looking at Schenn he hasn't hit a great amount of stats except for the 1 fluke 70 point season so he shouldn't make much more than 5 Million, but with the cap increase we should be able to fit him in comfortably.
Matt Duchene is about to get somewhere in the neighborhood of 8/$9.0. Duchene is a better player, full stop. But Schenn is coming off of a Stanley Cup team (hopefully one that won!), is a couple of years younger, and has no injury concerns. Assuming he plays close to his career average next season and keeping in mind that the price of UFAs goes up every year due to cap inflation, is there any question that Schenn is going to pull 8 years and at least $7.5 AAV? Again using EW tool as a rough guide (far from perfect but at least it's an objective starting point), if he were going UFA today he'd pull 8/$9.0.
The Blues could choose to fit that in their cap if they see Schenn as a key core guy moving forward. Personally I don't -- looking down the road we have 1C and 2C on lockdown between Thomas and ROR. $7.0 (if the Blues can even get him for that) is an incredibly high spend on a 3C. I think the Blues are better off getting a 1st back this year, signing a UFA winger, and reloading the minor league clubs with talent that can continue to sustain a winning team for many years to come.