I think Schenn wants to stay now that we are in the Stanley Cup Final.

Yes, but is there space for him? Thomas and O’Reilly are gonna be the top 2 centers for the foreseeable future and I’m not sure if I’d pay the money for a 30 year old winger who has only broken 60 points just once.

This is interesting, but I’d say your way high on Edmundson. If he demands that much money, I’d trade him and find another defenseman who brings what he does.

This is it...Schenn wants to be (and get paid like) a center. Blues have 6 centers as is. It's certainly not an urgent need to clear space, but if you can pick up good value and clear up some cap for a guy like Skinner, it's a win.

Agree it seems high on Edmundson, but it's a reasonable bet. Before this season, no brainer he would have been worth every cent of this contract and then some. This is a league in which guys like Marco Scandella, Erik Gudbranson, etc get $4MM deals. The EW contract prediction tool has him at 6 yr/$4.7MM and to this point it has been undervaluing players. I think it's too high on Edmundson but not by much.

Overall could end up being a massive bargain, and if not it's not the kind of deal that's unmovable. Really it just comes down to the question of whether you see Edmundson as part of the core defense moving forward or not? Lock him in now and extend Pietrangelo, and you have your top 4 set for years to come.

I’ve seen the EW projection which is honestly the reason I want to trade him. He’s played close to 300 games and we know who he is and will he going forward. He’s proficient at 1v1 defense and brings a lot of toughness but he really struggles with turnovers and penalties and has poor underlying analytics. This would be okay if he had offensive upside, but with 4 full seasons we can say he doesn’t. I’m all for keeping him at his current price because he’s had a great playoffs, but if he demands this much I’d look to trade and maximize value.

I wonder if the Blues could get him for a shorter term (3-4 years) at closer to $3.5 AAV. That puts him out to his late 20s and if he performs well he's in line for a big raise either from the Blues or someone else. I'd happily take him for 3/$3.5. As it stands I agree that it's uncomfortable, but I don't think it's a bad bet.

Another thing to consider is that we’re almost definitely losing him in the expansion draft if we sign him. We’ll likely end up protecting:
1. Schwartz
2. Tarasenko
3. ROR
4. Thomas
5. Kyrou
6. Perron?
7. Sundqvist?
1. Pietro
2. Parayko
3. Dunn

Very true, but not sure how much it really changes the calculus on a new deal. There aren't many teams where he'd be part of the Top 3 so not sure that there's a lot of value in flipping his rights -- he's not getting protected anywhere. If anything it depresses his trade market. I guess Blues could just get him on a 1 year deal (arb if necessary) and then reevaluate after the expansion draft.

edit: Keep in mind that unless the Blues extend Pietrangelo this offseason, they won't have anything to protect as he'll be a UFA. That could allow them to protect a guy like Edmundson if they so chose and also resign Pietrangelo to his long term deal.

True, it won’t really matter if they lose him but then that begs the question: why give 4.6 to a guy who you’d have no issue losing for nothing?

True, it won’t really matter if they lose him but then that begs the question: why give 4.6 to a guy who you’d have no issue losing for nothing?

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.

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.

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.



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.

I don't think anyone should send a 1st and a premium prospect back for a 2C like Schenn. While I admittedly did not state this above, this was with the assumption that whoever acquires him works out an extension for him. Assuming he hypothetically does sign with Carolina, Gauthier and a 1st is a fair deal.

We quite heavily overpaid for Schenn, you won't get a first and a top prospect back for him. Which is why I think I would keep him as a LW, not a Center. Which is the key using him as a Winger threat. The big thing is Schenn will be a rental, why would anyone bite at giving up a first and a prospect. I wouldn't even do that for 1 season of Hall, much less Calgary doing that for Brayden Schenn.