isles have no interest in labanc, especially at that price

There is 0 chance the Rangers even consider that unless they're positive that they want to re-sign Hertl, and positive that he will re-sign there.

If the Sharks do that deadline trade, there is nothing stopping them from giving Hertl a handshake agreement to bring him back in the offseason. With the way the Sharks look to be falling out of contention, they might as well sell off some expiring assets and bring a couple back in the offseason. I mean with Kane gone, they freed up quite a bit of cap space, which 7/8 of the proposed Hertl contract would fit in with just the open cap space. Being able to invoke the Moral Turpitude clause in Kane's contract, allowing them to terminate it was the best possible scenario. If the Sharks do end up falling out of a solid playoff spot by the deadline, I really think something like this will happen.

Labanc used to be worth a second when he was close to 20 goals a year. He is likely a third line player which can draw a second in recent years (with salary retained). Late second is not too different from an early 3rd in terms of value.

Hertl may not want to return to the gong show in SJ - he may see this as an opportunity for a fresh start. Playing second line on NYR would be a lot more fun than the Sharks who are going to be on the downward slide until Burns / Karlsson $20M per year contracts are done in 4 years.

Schneider is not available, period.