I don't know. I think Schwartz is worth every penny of his 5.5M as long as he can play 70+ games a season. He is more versatile and dynamic than McCann is. Unfortunately, there is no guarantee there given his injury history.
Eberle, yeah, he is not worth 5.5M. I genuinely hope they move him in the off-season. But all that being said, he already had that contract when we picked him.
Watching the games this season, it has been my observation that McCann can and has driven his own line all season, whether playing with Eberle (I think he is better without Eberle to be honest, but Hakstol disagrees), Johansson, Jarnkrok, Tanev, Wennberg or Geekie, - and if you watch who he tends to draw as a defensive assignment from opposing coaches, other teams scouts seem to agree.
Schwartz is very active and aggressive without the puck, (much more so last game in his return than any game earlier in the season), but he can't drive a line in any way. He is the definition of a complimentary player. And before he got injured, I don't think anyone would have argued that he was anywhere near as good as McCann had been during that stretch. In my opinion, the only forward I can say that has been as effective as McCann all season would be Gourde, and I am not referring to points, just overall play.
