Utah hands down needs to lock up Schmaltz before he can get to UFA. He's been arguably their best and most consistent forward all year. If he leaves in free agency, there's no one out there they can sign who will match or improve what he brings. Even if some of the top prospects make the team as you hope, they won't be immediately producing like Schmaltz can. You also have to take into account his chemistry with Keller. If Schmaltz leaves there will probably be a dip in Keller's scoring as well. The price tag is probably around 9 million a year at this point, given the interest he'd get on the open market, but I think Utah will have to accept that and hope the cap keeps going up. Their other UFA should either should not cost much or should not be resigned.
Recently, I've lost a lot of faith in Bill Armstrong. He brought in Tanev who looks awful. The guy works hard but the team gets owned every time he takes the ice; half his passes end up in Narnia. And then there's trading Doan for Peterka. Doan has had a better season for Buffalo than Peterka has for Utah. This reeks of BA getting caught up in Peterka's goal scoring and not doing his homework to see if he was actually a good player. Peterka can score goals but he's bad at pretty much everything else on the ice. Doan is well rounded and versitile and his game will translate better to the grittiness of the playoffs than Peterka's soft play. In short, BA blew this one and if the rumors are true, he's been looking to make more splashy trades. I'm not sure I trust him right now. Resigning Schmaltz would be a good way to start restoring some of my faith.
kslsports.com