Quoting: Celtics21
Who is going to pay a premium for a 31 year old entering free agency where a team is likely going to have to pay him premium money until he’s 37 or 38 to make him stay?
He’s also rumored to have bullied Patrick Laine, been benched for his disposition, and given interviews that were me centric. His former coaches comments about the culture were pretty disturbing and while vague, it seemed pretty clear it was focused around Scheifele and Wheeler. Couple that with a pretty bad plus/minus
I get he’s talented, but there are a ton of red flags around him.
That's all just rumors that you are trying to use to rationalize a lowball offer to yourself and others. Who knows what team will offer how much for him. All we know is that it happens, every, single, July, 1st. Without fail.
The fact is you're offer isn't close to what almost any player can get at the TDL. Ben Chiarot returned a 1st at the TDL and the standard return for a decent player is a 1st a good prospect.
Considering that if Scheifele is available at the TDL, he'll be more than a decent player and would return a 1st and good prospect minimum.
So, start with a 1st and good prospect and then add for having Scheifele for a full year and then more if you want retention.
Lowball offers won't cut it, no matter how you try to rationalize it to yourself.