Blues Throw Leafs a Curveball With Absurd Asking Price for Brayden Schenn
Photo credit: Joe Puetz - Imagn Images
The Maple Leafs may be forced to look elsewhere for a centre after the St. Louis Blues set absurd asking price for captain Brayden Schenn.
Earlier this week, it was reported that the Toronto Maple Leafs are one of several teams in the hunt for St. Louis Blues captain Brayden Schenn.
It kind of came out of left field because his name hadn't popped up on anyone's radar all season but with the Blues continuing to struggle, their captain is set to be available in trade talks but the asking price is very high.
During his segment on Hockey Night in Canada, NHL insider Elliotte Friedman gave us some insight on what the Blues are looking for in exchange for their captain:
"Also Brayden Schenn, his name got out this week, I've heard the Blues have set a very very high price on him. The Blues have given an indication that they are willing to talk about a whole lot of their players but I've heard the price is very very high on their captain, Brayden Schenn."
A veteran of 996 games across 16 seasons between Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and St. Louis, Schenn is the perfect player for what the Maple Leafs have been looking for. He can score goals, win face-offs, drop the gloves, finish checks, and brings a lot of the snarl and grit that the team is missing.
Not to mention that he has experience under Craig Berube who was behind the Blues bench as an associate coach in 2017-18 and 2018-19 before being promoted to head coach between 2018-19 to 2023-24.
In the 6 full seasons with Berube as either an associate coach of head coach, Schenn put up 131 goals and 341 points in 425 games, which included a Stanley Cup ring in 2019. His numbers have dropped a little over the last 2 seasons with 31 goals and 76 points 138 games but he's still collected 104 PIMs and 310 hits.
While the biggest obstacle is that he carries a cap hit of $6.5 million until the end of the 2028 season, the asking price being astronomically high doesn't bode well for Toronto either.
Considering the packages that are being thrown around for comparable players you could expect several top picks as well as prospects and with Toronto not owning their 2025 first round pick or 2026 second round pick it could be even more difficult.
Nevertheless there is an open dialogue and the Blues have put him on the block at the very least. It will be interesting to see if anyone meets their high demands or whether or not the price drops to a more satiable level.
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